Mysterious Girl with Green Hair
by Guibin
Summary: Lelouch Lamperouge was pretty much a normal high schooler going through a normal high school life. Aside from the fact that his family is super rich. A new girl shows up one day named C.C. and turns his carefree lifestyle upside down.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So this story won. I've decided to keep the title because I really couldn't think of a new title. Oh well, and the term "International School" I made up because I'm not really sure if they exist so there it is. It's just supposed to be a school for rich foreign kids who live outside their home country. It just seemed to make sense here._

**Disclaimer: I do not Code Geass but I do own my OC.**

**Mysterious Girl with Green Hair**

Lelouch woke up before his alarm clock went off like every morning. He doesn't even know why he still sets it but just in case right? He stepped out of bed without complaining and went to wash up and take a shower. He could hear the sound of cooking downstairs meaning Sayoko is already cooking breakfast or done cooking. As he stepped out of the shower, there was a knock on his room door.

"Lelouch sama, breakfast is ready." Sayoko said through the door.

"Alright, I'll be right down. Go wake Nunnally." Lelouch ordered.

"Yes sir," Sayoko said, bowing even though Lelouch wouldn't be able to see.

Lelouch sighed as he threw his towel aside and took the uniform hanging on the wall, 'another Monday' he thought.

When he finished changing, he went downstairs. Food was already laid out on the table and his father and mother was already sitting there. His father was reading the newspaper while his mother was enjoying her breakfast.

"Good morning father," he turned to his mother, "good morning mother."

His father just grunted. He hated that man.

"Oh are you still angry Charles? You know Lelouch has never enjoyed social events." Marianne said to her husband.

"You don't do things just because you don't like it," Charles said putting the papers down.

"Would it help that I also wasn't feeling very well," Lelouch said.

"Excuses, excuses Lelouch…" Charles said annoyed.

"What are we talking about?" a small voice said.

"Nunnally," Lelouch exclaimed, "It's nothing important."

Nunnaly was Lelouch's only true sister. His father, Charles Lamperouge actually has quite a lot of mistresses. Lelouch even has brothers and sisters that are older then him. Officially, Charles is married to Marianne but his mistresses come by to the house shamelessly. Lelouch had asked his mother many times why she's still with the man but she never answered him One of the main reasons why Lelouch hates him, Lelouch never got along with any of his half siblings except one.

"Are you arguing with father again?" Nunnally asked sitting down and began eating.

"Hmph" Lelouch grunted.

Lelouch finished his breakfast without another word to his father. Sayoko had brought down Lelouch's and Nunnally's school bags and as soon as Nunnally finished, he ushered her out to go to school. The car that took them school every morning was already waiting outside. Their driver, Tamaki greeted the two enthusiastically. Lelouch liked this man for his enthusiasm and antics because he always makes rides interesting, at least when his father is not in the car. Though Lelouch has to admit he does get annoying sometimes. They arrived at Ashford Academy within fifteen minutes and Tamaki waved good bye before driving off.

Ashford Academy was an International School in Tokyo, Japan. His family moved to Japan for his father's work when he was only ten years old. Ashford was built for rich foreign students like Lelouch who are forced to live in Japan because of their parents as well. So the majority of the students are rich kids from all over the world. There are Japanese students here too and they're most likely children of politicians, like his best friend Kururugi Suzaku son of the Prime Minister Kururugi Genbu.

"Yo, Lelouch," a voice said from Lelouch's right.

"Ah morning Suzaku," Lelouch turning to face his best friend.

Suzaku was Lelouch's first friend when he arrived in Japan and they grew to be best friends over the years, to even inventing their own secret sign language which they use to great effect during social events that their parents go to.

"Good morning Suzaku-san," Nunnaly said.

"Hi Nunnaly," Suzaku said greeted, "Lelouch, I didn't see you at the party last night."

"You know I don't like those things, Suzaku." Lelouch said.

"Oh, not even the ones my family holds?" Suzaku asked jokingly.

"I like company; I hate all the mindless chitchat that goes on." Lelouch said.

"Well leaving me to deal with the mindless chitchat all night was pretty cruel," Suzaku said.

"But Nunnally was there," Lelouch said.

"Well she was quickly accosted by guys asking her to dance." Suzaku said.

"Really?" Lelouch looked at her sister in alarm.

"Don't worry onii-sama, they're just harmless dances." Nunnally said waving her hands in front of her defensively, "I see Alice, bye!" and she was off.

"Was it?" Lelouch asked Suzaku worried.

"Don't worry; I kept watch like you asked." Suzaku said.

"So anything interesting happened last night?" Lelouch asked.

"Not anything worth mentioning, a few of your fan-girls were looking for you though." Suzaku said.

"One of the reasons why I hate those events," Lelouch sighed.

Lelouch looked to right and saw Nunnaly with her friends, whom he recognized as Alice and Nemo. It still amazes Lelouch how Nunnaly and Nemo look nearly identical except for hair color and eye color and expression. Nemo was blond with red eyes and seems to be always scowling. Lelouch continued on his way with Suzaku and headed towards their classroom. The moment he entered, his other friend Rivalz ran up to him.

"Lelouch, did ya hear?" he said excitedly.

"Hear what?" Lelouch asked nonchalantly.

"There's going to be a new girl in our class, I heard Villetta sensei talk about it!" Rivalz said.

"So what?" Lelouch asked.

"Geez Lelouch, aren't you a guy? Do you think she'll be cute? Huh? Huh?" Rivalz said.

"I don't really care," Lelouch said.

"Rivalz, stop bothering Lelouch, He's obviously not interested in gossip." A green-eyed orange hair girl said coming up.

"Are you sure you're not just jealous that he might –"Rivalz began but was quickly silenced by the girl's hand.

"Don't listen to this idiot, Lelouch. He doesn't know what he's talking about." The girl laughed weakly with a slight blush. "Anyways good morning, you too Suzaku kun."

"Shirley, I'm sure Rivalz wanted to say something important." Lelouch teased.

Just then, someone bumped into Lelouch's right shoulder. Lelouch looked over and saw a girl with red hair and teal eyes walking past him. She was holding a sports bag along with her school bag and a lacrosse stick.

"Oh morning, Lelouch, did you finish the finance forms yet?" she asked.

"Of course Kallen, do I really look that unreliable?" Lelouch asked feigning hurt.

"Don't you dare try to give the Chess Club extra funding just because you're its president," Kallen said a bit menacingly.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Lelouch said playing innocent, "as long as you don't give the Lacrosse team extra funding."

"I'm honest unlike you." Kallen replied.

"What's her problem? Did you do something to her before or something?" Rivalz asked as Kallen walked to her seat.

"No," Lelouch said simply. It was true; he really doesn't know why Kallen distrusts him so much.

The bell rang at that moment and they all moved to their seat. Currently, the seat next to Lelouch is empty. Suzaku sits with Rivalz and Shirley sits with Kallen. Moments later, the door to the classroom opened and their homeroom teacher, Villetta Nu came in. She is also their P.E. teacher.

"Alright class, as I'm sure you've heard from Rivalz there's going to be new student transferring in today." She said.

"Excited murmurs from the guys of the class filled the room, except for Lelouch. Suzaku seemed to have been dragged in by Rivalz.

"Quiet, now I'm going to call her in so show some respect." Villetta sensei said.

She walked over to the door and gestured to someone outside to come in. the class gasped at the girl coming through their door. She had bright neon green hair which was tied at the back with a white band except two strands that frame her face. She also has unnaturally gold eyes. She walked up and stood next to the teacher's podium and looked at the class.

"Would you please introduce yourself?" Villetta sensei said.

She looked around at the class before starting her introduction.

"There isn't much you need to know about me. I transferred here from the U.S. like most you who are from other countries. My favorite food is pizza. I guess I should tell everyone my name." She said, "My name is" suddenly the sounds of giant engines roared outside. "But you can all me C.C. because it'll be easier. In fact, I prefer you call me by that name."

Everyone looked outside and saw that a plane was flying dangerously low but managed to miss the school and were able to climb back up.

"Well then C.C. your seat…" Villetta said looking around, "Ah the seat next to Lelouch is empty; you can take that."

Lelouch looked up at the mention of his name. He wasn't even paying attention during the girl's introduction. The girl was walking towards him and sat down on the empty seat. All the guys, except Suzaku seems to be looking at him with jealous eyes. She sat down, not saying a word to Lelouch.

'Well at least she won't be annoying like the other girls,' Lelouch thought.

"While I'm at it Lelouch," Villetta said claiming Lelouch's attention. "Can you show me her around since she's your seatmate and you're the student council vice president?"

"Sure whatever," Lelouch said but thinking, 'How troublesome.'

"Looks like I'll be in your care, Lelouch." The girl said turning to him.

Lelouch looked at her to acknowledge what she said before class started and Lelouch stared out of the window aimlessly.

_A/N: My OC will make his appearance soon. I did that on purpose with C.C.'s name because no one really knows and I thought it be funny. Everyone in the class heard her say her name, except us. But she'll be referred to as C.C. from now on anyways. :D_

_And the first sport that I can imagine Kallen playing is Lacrosse so she now plays Lacrosse. I've never played Lacrosse before though. Whatever, she plays Lacrosse now._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Here's chapter two. I'm still feeling quite down about college and other things right now but I felt I needed to write something. Oh yeah, International school is the correct term for what I want Ashford to be in this fic so that will stay._

**Chapter 2:**

Lelouch opened his eyes at the sound of the bell and looked up at the clock in front of the room, lunch time. The girl with green hair was packing up her bag. Now that Lelouch took a closer look at her, she is quite beautiful. This girl has a more sophisticated beauty about her, different then the girls who stuff his lockers with love letters. As she finished packing up her bag, Rivalz came to their table followed by Suzaku.

"Hey there," Rivalz said ignoring Lelouch, "my name is Rivalz."

"Nice to meet you, I'm C.C." C.C. replied smiling.

"Oh so you've given up on Milly, Rivalz?" Lelouch said facing the two.

Milly was their bubbly Student Council president.

"Shut it Lelouch," Rivalz whined, "I'm just being polite, unlike someone here."

"I was already under the impression she knows my name and I know hers." Lelouch said smirking.

"Whatever," Rivalz said waving away Lelouch's comment, "C.C.-san, if you want, I can show you around instead of this jerk."

"Thanks but Villetta sensei did ask Lelouch to do it, so he should do it. Right?" C.C. said looking teasingly at Lelouch.

Just then, Shirley came up to them with Kallen at her side, "Well why don't you join us for lunch, then we could all give you the tour along with Lelouch."

"Alright, thanks." C.C. said, "Does your cafeteria serve pizza?"

And so the group left the classroom to go eat lunch outside at their usual spot. On the way they explained to C.C. what each was for and warning her about certain teachers along the way. Though it was supposed to be Lelouch doing this, he was just hanging back with Suzaku while Shirley and Rivalz were enthusiastically chatting away. Kallen added a few comments and laughed every now and then. She looked back at Lelouch lagging behind chatting with Suzaku.

"Oi, Lelouch," Kallen called, "weren't you suppose to do this?"

"But you three are doing such a great job already," Lelouch said.

They reached the cafeteria and got in line to buy food. Well it was just C.C.. Everyone brought their own lunch, or rather Sayoko brings it to Lelouch and Nunnally when it's time. Shirley went along with C.C. for company.

"Lelouch," Kallen said, "are you going to the student council meeting today or chess club?"

"I don't know," Lelouch shrugged, "which ever I feel like."

C.C. came with Shirley carrying a large plate of pizza. Lelouch looked at the plate and was amazed a small girl like that can eat that much. Everyone else seems to be thinking along the same line. They met Milly and Nina outside in the courtyard so they went to join them.

"Eh, so this is the mysterious new girl." Milly said upon noticing C.C.

"Yup, she just transferred in today. But shouldn't already know being the President's daughter?" Shirley asked.

"My father doesn't like to get too involved with the details of the school and just lets the principal and administrations take care of it." Milly shrugged and turned to C.C. "Hi, I'm Milly Ashford, the president of the student council."

"Nice to meet you Milly," C.C. said, "I'm C.C."

"C.C.? Is that a nickname?" Milly asked, "I looked at your file."

"I prefer to be called C.C. so if you please," C.C. said.

"Alrighty then C.C. welcome to Ashford!" Milly said enthusiastically, "have you joined any clubs yet?"

"No but…" C.C. began.

"Great then you're now part of the Student Council!" Milly said.

"President, you can't just draft her like that!" Lelouch exclaimed.

"It's fine; I'll join the Student Council." C.C. said.

"Great! I'm the president as you already know." Milly began, "Lelouch is the vice president, Shirley is our treasurer, and Nina over here is our secretary."

"Hi…I'm Nina Einstein." A dark green hair girl said meekly.

"Then we have to have a welcome party for C.C.!" Milly said excitedly, "how about today?"

"You just want to throw a party don't you…?" Lelouch said.

"Well when Kallen and Suzaku joined, we threw a party so it's only fair!" Milly said.

"Sorry Milly, I have Lacrosse practice." Kallen said.

"And I have Kendo practice," Suzaku added.

"And I have to go to chess club." Lelouch said.

"Swim practice," Shirley chimed in.

"Aw…everyone's busy, then how about tomorrow?" Milly said. "And Lelouch, you just go to chess club to avoid student council work."

"Well I am the president of the chess club, so I have to go sometime right? And besides, you forced the seat of vice president onto me." Lelouch retorted.

"Because all the girls love you," Milly said.

Lelouch just grunted.

Just then, they heard someone yelling to them from the distance. They turned around to see a pink curly haired girl of 16 running up to them. It was Euphemia, one of Lelouch's half sisters. Though unlike his other half siblings, he actually likes Euphemia. Suzaku stood quickly and ran towards her. Oh yeah, she's also his best friend's girlfriend.

They had started dating only recently because they were both afraid of what Lelouch thinks. Lelouch actually treats Euphemia as his little sister like Nunnally so Suzaku had some doubts about asking her out. But they both liked each other and Suzaku decided to confront Lelouch about it one day with Euphemia's encouragement. Lelouch knew about them long before that since he's long noticed how they look at each other so he just laughed and said, "Well who else can I trust with one of my beloved sisters if not my best friend?" Euphemia managed to escape Milly's clutches and is not in the student council but Nunnally was not so lucky, she's a junior member. Throughout all this, no one noticed Nina looking at Euphemia longingly.

"Hey everyone," Euphemia waved smiling and upon noticing C.C. "I've never seen you around before, are Lelouch's girlfriend?"

"What? What are you saying Euphie?" Lelouch exclaimed.

"Your brother's just shy, my name is C.C. I just transferred in today."

"Well nice to meet you C.C. I'm Euphemia, but you can call me Euphie." Euphemia said. "And wow Lelouch, you work fast."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lelouch said with a flushed face.

"I'm just kidding Lelouch, geez you always take things so seriously. Ever since we were kids." Euphemia chided.

"I like serious guys," C.C. teased.

Lelouch just blushed as everyone laughed. It was all good fun. He tore a bit of the sandwich in his hands and chewed angrily.

Lunch proceeded like usual. C.C. was able to be acquainted with everyone else so by the end of lunch, she was part of the group. Nunnally came up to say hi when she passed by with her friends and teased Lelouch like Euphie did about C.C. when he noticed her. All the girls seem to just love to pick on him. C.C. isn't helping either as she just plays along. Lelouch can't wait for the day to be over and hopes she makes other friends during P.E. class.

After lunch was history class, and Lelouch just wasn't sleepy so he was forced to listen. One thing he noticed that that, C.C. was incredibly good with history. Their history teacher, Ougi sensei was a pretty easy teacher personality wise but he was tough work wise. But C.C. was able to answer all the questions Ougi threw at her, including the specific dates and details that no one really bothers to remember. It was as if she lived through it all. Everyone just looked on in amazement.

C.C. was no pushover either when it came to Math either. Their math teacher was Toudou sensei, the strict Kendo coach. Suzaku idolized the man because he's trained with Toudou since he was small. He tried to get Lelouch to do Kendo with him too, but Lelouch always manages to talk his way. But he was probably the class's least favorite teacher because of his strictness and harsh punishments. The only thing Lelouch liked about the man was that he was a good chess player and even better shogi player. Whenever Lelouch wanted a challenge, he would ask Toudou for a match.

It was P.E. right after math class, talk about abuse. First a mental abuse then physical abuse. Villetta sensei, who also happened to be their homeroom teacher, was there P.E. teacher. Lelouch decided to skip P.E. like always and slipped away as everyone headed down towards the locker rooms. He can trust Suzaku and the others to cover for him. They may agree with Villetta sensei about his laziness, but they definitely won't rat him out. As everyone headed down the stairs, Lelouch followed a group from another class upstairs. C.C. noticed this and watched him until he turned and disappeared from sight.

"Come on, C.C. or we'll be late," Shirley said ushering her down the stairs.

C.C. finished changing into the P.E. cloths that were provided for her and walked out with Shirley and Kallen. They met Suzaku outside by the tracks as they wait for Villetta sensei to show up. The boys and girls P.E. uniforms were similar, the only difference being the girls had red linings and the boys had blue. The girl's red shorts were incredibly short while the guy's blue shorts went down to their knees.

"Did you guys know that Lelouch didn't come to class," C.C. said, not sure if they noticed or not seeing as they haven't mentioned him.

"Oh he always skips P.E. it's almost like a routine." Shirley said.

"When Villetta sensei takes roll, we'll then have to hear her rant about Lelouch skipping class again." Kallen said.

"Just don't tell her where Lelouch went," Suzaku said, "he's always been weak physically and Villetta sensei is brutal."

No sooner had they warned her, Villetta sensei came out and blew her whistle so everyone would get in roll call line. And as Kallen had predicted, she gave a good long five minute rant about Lelouch before starting the lesson. They were running the mile today and then they'll be playing basketball.

Lelouch looked down from where he was on the roof, watching the class below running the track and then switching to basketball. He saw green hair waving around. Oh so she's athletic as well smart now. Lelouch sat back down, his back to the activities below and opened a book. P.E. was the last class for the day, during the hottest part of the day. If P.E. was in a cooler part of the day then maybe he wouldn't skip so much.

…

…

…

Lelouch awoke with a jolt and looked around. It was quiet now, the shouts below him had ceased and he took out his cell phone to check the time. School had ended a few minutes ago apparently. He picked up his book and dropped it in his bag and headed back down. Since he told Milly he was going to chess club, he might as well go. He took his time walking down so by the time he got to the clubroom, school had ended for 15 minutes. Lelouch opened the door to the room and saw all the "chess geeks" gathered around something. A blond haired blue eyed young man his age walked up to Lelouch and wrapped an arm around him.

"Lelouch, why didn't you tell me you knew such a beauty?" he said.

"What are you talking about, Gino?" Lelouch asked annoyed.

Gino signed up for the chess club but he's never really active. He just comes in here to annoy Lelouch or just hang out.

As the throng of people shifted, Lelouch saw a wave of green and he strode quickly towards the group. The others noticing Lelouch, walked aside to let him through.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Why else, I want to join the Chess Club?" C.C. said.

_A/N: Yes I finally wrote it. I was busy the whole last week with chaperoning Japanese exchange students. Though it wasn't hard work or anything, it was quite fun. Anyways, I am still feeling a bit down about college stuff. My financial aid seems to take an unusually long time to process. So I'm not sure I will be able to stay at CSUS. Anyways, I will try to update as much as possible. I'm also doing translations for the manga "Umisho" for Animelab, so yeah check that out if you want. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Forgot last chapter, but I do not own Code Geass. If I did, I'd made sure everyone knows Lelouch's fate because that argument is getting annoying.**

_A/N: I'm totally ripping on Chess and geeks in this chapter. Don't worry, I love playing chess, Chinese chess, and shogi, even though I suck. And the title for this fic still totally sucks; I'm quite disappointed in myself for not coming up with a better title._

**Chapter 3:**

'Okay, what the hell.' Lelouch thought, he practically spent the whole day with her and now she's even after him during his club activities. And why would a girl want to join Chess Club, they're usually pre-occupied with their popularity. The only other girl in Chess Club right now is Anya and she's here because Gino drags her along. She just sits on the sofa texting everyday anyways. Not even Nina, who is the geekiest girl Lelouch knows, is in Chess Club.

"Well, am I in Lelouch?" C.C. asked sitting down on a chair.

Lelouch thought about it for a bit. He can't outright deny her entrance because let's face it, the club needs more girls. Not for Lelouch's sake but for the other members' sakes. Let's make it interesting.

"How about this?" Lelouch said putting his bag down and sitting at a table with a chess board already set up, "If you can beat me, you're in."

The other members of the club yelled out protests. No one has been able to beat Lelouch, not even Toudou sensei when it comes to Chess.

"Deal," C.C. agreed, and sat down opposite him on the white side.

"Since you're white, you make the opening move," Lelouch said sweeping the back of his right hand over the board.

The Chess Club room was a spacious area with two leather sofas at one corner of the room forming an L shape. An oak coffee table sits in front of the sofas over a decorative rug. There were a few armchairs around the room too but they were moved to a select few tables to give the players comfort, such as Lelouch and C.C. right now. The rest of the tables had cushioned oak chairs that were comfortable enough.

The smirk Lelouch had on his face slowly disappeared as the game progressed. To his unexpected surprise, C.C. was actually a pretty good chess player and even though Lelouch wasn't losing or coming close, he was getting nervous. No one has been able to hold their own against him except for Toudou sensei during the few times he played and Suzaku through Lelouch's coaching, and the only one person that Lelouch couldn't beat was Schneizel his older brother.

Everyone had gathered around their table now, even Gino and Anya. Anya looked on to the match with her expressionless face like usual though. C.C. made great use of the Bishop piece and was able to check Lelouch several times with those. Once Lelouch calmed down, he was able to counter C.C.'s advance. But she held up and the match ended up as a draw.

"Well Lelouch, it was a draw. How is it going to be dealt with?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch was about to open his mouth to speak and tell her no when he felt a tug on his arm. He turned to the side and Gino dragged him off the comfortable armchair to the side of the room along with a few other guys.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Lelouch asked angrily.

"Look Lelouch, let's face it chess club is a total cock-fest," Gino said.

The other guys nodded in agreement.

"She didn't beat you but she came close right so let's give her a chance." Gino continued, "I mean, who else has come this close to beating you?"

"A deal is a deal, Gin" Lelouch said.

"You made that deal knowing she can't beat you," Gino said.

"Not really, I was just confident about my abilities. I had no idea how good she was," Lelouch said.

"Well as the vice-president of chess club…" Gino began.

"No you're not," Lelouch snapped at him.

"Well I nominate myself and since no one else is challenging me, I win by default." Gino said.

The others didn't seem to disagree.

"Now as the Chess club's new vice president, I formally accept C.C.-san to be part of the chess club." Gino began.

"And as President, I…" Lelouch began but this time it was Gino's turn to cut him off.

"Over-ruled, by popular vote" Gino began, "All those in favor of letting C.C.-san join say aye!"

The entire club room yelled aye, even Anya though not as enthusiastically as the rest.

"Think of giving Anya some female company," Gino said, smiling.

"But Anya is only a 1st year high school student," Lelouch said.

"So," Gino said.

"It's YOU who wants C.C. to join isn't it?" Lelouch said.

"No, everyone else does too." Gino said.

Lelouch could over rule their decision, since when he cared what his club members think. But he thought about it as Gino was yapping, having her in the club would be interesting right? She played to a draw with him and it seems Gino and the other guys would keep her busy with their flirting anyways. He sighed, giving in he took a seat in one of the sofas at the corner of the room and took out a book. He didn't feel like going home yet.

Anya joined him, leaning against the other arm of the couch with her foot on the sofa. Lelouch ignored her since she took out her cell the moment she plopped down on the sofa but after a while he noticed she was staring at him with those emotionless red eyes.

"What?" Lelouch asked, getting annoyed.

"You're strange," she stated simply.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked returning to his book. If anyone is strange here, it's Anya.

"Do you hate C.C.-san or something?" Anya asked.

"Not really," Lelouch replied.

"Then why do you treat her like that?" Anya asked.

Lelouch thought about it and realized, aside from having to be her tour guide he really has nothing against her. "I don't know, it's one of those things that you can't explain."

"So you don't dislike her?" Anya asked.

"I guess not," Lelouch said.

"Good because you two would look great together," Anya said.

Before Lelouch could say anything to that, Anya spoke again.

"Tell your mother I can't make it to the piano lessons this week. Family business." Anya said and got up to leave.

Lelouch watched as she picked up her bag and left the club room, 'what a strange girl,' he thought.

Lelouch looked over to towards the other side of the room and saw that C.C. was surrounded by the chess club guys. All the while couldn't help but think how pathetic they look. Gino broke out of the throng and walked over to Lelouch. He took a seat at the sofa next to Lelouch.

"So what do you think of C.C.-san?" Gino asked.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked back.

"You know, like how she looks." Gino urged.

"I don't know, didn't really think about it." Lelouch said.

"What are you gay?" Gino commented.

Lelouch decided to ignore that as he flipped a page in his book.

"Anyways, where's Anya?" Gino asked.

"She just left," Lelouch said.

"Oh shit, then I gotta go too. See ya around Lelouch" Gino said, "by the way, how's Kallen doing?"

"Not interested," Lelouch said.

"Oh really…well that's too bad, I'll try again next time." Gino said and ran out of the clubroom after Anya.

Lelouch sighed; thinking of how many times Gino tried asking Kallen out. He also kept asking Lelouch to relay weird messages which is one of the contributing reasons why Kallen dislikes him so much. Lelouch put his book back down and walked over to one of the windows that overlooked the many sports fields that Ashford has. Suzaku would be in the dojo inside the school and Shirley in the large indoor pool that swim class is held in, but he can see the girls' lacrosse teams practicing just beyond next to the soccer field. It was too far to distinguish anyone individually and they all had their masks on.

"What are you looking at?" C.C. said coming up behind him.

"Nothing, fresh air," Lelouch replied.

"But the window is closed," C.C. pointed out.

"I know that," Lelouch replied flustered, "I was just about to open it."

"You're watching the lacrosse team," it wasn't a question but a statement.

"So what?" Lelouch said, pushing the window open.

"Looking for Kallen?" C.C. said.

"What? No!" Lelouch said. "And if you're going to say I like her, I don't. It's Gino who likes her."

"I didn't say that," C.C. said, "And Kallen won't like Gino."

"Oh, how do you know that?" Lelouch said.

"He's not serious enough," C.C. said.

"Just goes to show you don't know him enough," Lelouch said.

"And you do?" C.C. said.

"One of my father's business associate's son. We practically grew up together you could say, if he didn't live in the states during elementary school." Lelouch said.

"Still, I just know. Kallen seems like a girl who doesn't want to be constantly protected by her man. She's too independent." C.C. said. "And Gino is your average prince in shining armor with his looks and gentlemanly nature."

"Oh are you saying Gino is good looking and Kallen doesn't like gentlemen?" Lelouch said.

"No, I'm saying Gino would be too courteous with her making her feel like she can't do anything." C.C. said. "And if I said Gino is good looking, would you get jealous?"

"For a witch like you, no" Lelouch smirked.

"Hm that's too bad then," C.C. said. "Well see you tomorrow Lelouch."

C.C. turned around and left the room after grabbing her bag which was leaning against the chair she was sitting in when they were playing chess. Lelouch watched her until she turned at the door. 'What did she mean?' he thought. Oh well, no use over thinking about a vague comment from that witch. He went back over to the sofa and grabbed his bag and left the room. The other members yelled bye as he left and he just waved to them without looking.

He took out his cell phone and looked at the time. It's almost 6 pm. Tamaki would've taken Nunnally home hours ago so if he wants to get home, he'd have to take the train. He didn't mind since no one pays attention to him on the train and its fun to inter-mingle with the middle class. As he left the school building, he heard some yell his name from the side and saw Suzaku running towards him.

"Practice over?" Lelouch asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Suzaku laughed, "So why are you heading back so late?"

"That woman joined the chess club," Lelouch said.

"Oh do tell," Suzaku said.

So they went home, Lelouch relaying the events of what happened in the club room and how Gino had made himself the vice president of chess club. All the while Suzaku listened and teased him lightly every now and then.

_A/N: My school's Chess Club barely had any girls in it too. In fact I didn't even join and it was disbanded after my sophomore year for lack of members. Yeah I'm not very good at chess so I couldn't make the chess game between C.C. and Lelouch very exciting. And I don't know if Ashford really has all those sports fields but to me, it seems they do. Being the rich school it is._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. Sorry, no witty comment here. And because of the small Pizza Hut references, I don't own them either. **

_A/N: I admit it, I don't proofread. I just write and post. I haven't read much of Nightmare of Nunnally so I don't know much about Alice and Nemo's character. Ok seriously, I just found another of Charles' kids, Cassius but I didn't find a lot of information on him. Is there some kind of website that lists ALL of Charles' children and wives and their relations?_

**Chapter 4:**

Lelouch arrived home at around 6:45. Sayoko came out and took Lelouch's bag upstairs as he heads for the living room, his steps echoing slightly in the huge foyer of his mansion. He heard laughter as he got closer and saw that Nunnally had brought her friends over, Alice and Nemo. Nemo was a strange girl, always quiet and holding that that scowl. If one didn't know any better, one would've thought she was a very angry blond doll. Alice on the hand was different, she was loud and quite ready to say what's on her mind though that doesn't mean she doesn't know time and place. Alice seems like she was telling a funny story as Lelouch entered the living room.

"Ah, welcome back onii-sama," Nunnally said as she noticed Lelouch coming in.

"Yo Lelouch," Alice said.

"Hello," Nemo said.

"Where's kaa-san?" Lelouch said.

"She had to go run some errand," Nunnally said, "and otoo-sama still hasn't returned yet."

"Ah whatever," Lelouch said as he changed the channel on the TV.

"Oi, we were watching that," Alice snapped at him, trying to reach for the remote.

"Didn't seem like it," Lelouch taunted as he flipped it to the news while waving it above her reach.

"Che! How boring, you're just like any other adult watching the news," Alice said realizing she can't reach it.

"I like to stay informed," Lelouch said sitting down on another sofa.

Just then, the ring of a cell phone sounded through the room. Lelouch looked around to see that it was Nemo's phone. The conversation she had was short but she got up as she closed her phone.

"Sorry, I have to go home," she said.

"Eh, why? I thought you were going to stay for dinner," Nunnally replied sadly.

"My cousin came to visit today so I have to be home," Nemo said.

"There's nothing we can do about it then," Alice said. "See you tomorrow Nemo."

Nemo just nodded and walked away. They could hear Sayoko opening and closing the door.

"You're staying for dinner?" Lelouch asked Alice.

"Yeah, got a problem?" Alice snapped back.

"What's wrong with your place?" Lelouch asked.

"Nothing, I just wanted to spend time with my best friend." Alice said.

Lelouch didn't say anything and chose to ignore her for now.

Alice and Nunnally ignored Lelouch while he watched TV. Lelouch was glad his little sister made such good friends. He was afraid that her timid nature might stop her from socializing with others. His mother Marianne came home not long after with Tamaki carrying a bunch of boxes and shopping bags. Lelouch told her about Anya.

"Well I guess that's to be expected, she would have to prepare for the social that night." His mother replied.

Oh yeah, there was another social function that Saturday night. "Does she really need a whole day to prepare?" Lelouch said. "I mean it's not like it's her thing."

"You'll eventually learn that girls take longer to prepare for something then guys," Marianne told her son as she sat down at an armchair.

"So can I skip this one too?" Lelouch asked.

"You'll have to talk to your father; I've already let you skip too many times." Marianne said.

"I guess that means I'm going," Lelouch said.

"Onii-sama, those events aren't as bad as you think," Nunnally said. "And besides, Suzaku-san will be there."

"You only go because you want to see Kururugi-san in a tux," Alice teased.

"Alice, what are you talking about!? If Suzaku-san is happy with Euphie onee-sama then I'm happy." Nunnaly said slightly blushing.

"Nunnally, you have to be more assertive!" Alice said seriously, "This Saturday, make sure his eyes are on you the whole night!"

"But it'll be unfair to Euphie onee-sama," Nunnaly replied.

"All's fair in love and war," Alice said. "I and Nemo will help you."

"Be careful of what you're teaching my sister please," Lelouch said.

"Just because you don't have a girlfriend doesn't mean Nunnally should suffer loneliness with you," Alice snapped at him, sticking her tongue out at him.

Before Lelouch could respond, they heard the big front doors open again and they knew who had come back. Lelouch's father, Charles walked in taking off his jacket to hand it to Sayoko. They all greeted him politely, all except Lelouch whose tone was anything but polite. Since the master of the house had come back, they could serve dinner now. As dinner progressed, the conversation turned toward the event Saturday.

"Marianne, did you get everything?" Charles asked his wife.

"Of course, a new gown for Nunnally and new tux for Lelouch," Marianne said putting the bite of salmon on her fork in her mouth.

"Kaa-san, I've barely worn the tuxes that are already in my closet so you didn't need to buy a new one," Lelouch said to her mother.

"I just felt like you needed a new one," Marianne said to her son.

"So I have to go then," Lelouch said taking a drink from his cup.

"You're going this time and that's final," Charles said in a firm tone toward his son.

"Ok fine, I'll go," Lelouch sighed, "who's this whole thing for anyways?"

"It's a charity benefit for the children's hospital," Charles replied.

"Yet you're spending what, hundreds of thousands or more to hold this party when you could've just given that money directly to the hospital." Lelouch said sardonically.

"Lelouch!" Charles yelled angrily.

"These events are just excuses for you and other rich families and politicians to show off," Lelouch said. "That's why I never want to go."

"That's enough, go to your room!" Charles stood up angrily, slamming his fist on the table.

"Weak…" Lelouch muttered as he stood up calmly to leave.

All the while, Nunnally and Alice watched the argument from their side of the long table. Nunnally never butts in between Lelouch and her father because she wouldn't be able to stand being yelled at by her father. Alice had never actually seen Lelouch argued with his father before but she had heard from Nunnally about how Lelouch despises the man. Nunnally would always support her brother though. That little argument had left the table in silence as dinner finished. Nunnally and Alice excused themselves to go and play in her room.

"It's like Lelouch never respected his father," Alice said lying down on Nunnally's huge bed.

"Onii-sama loves mother so he never really forgave father for having mistresses," Nunnally explained.

"Speaking of that, how does your mother feel about the mistresses anyways?" Alice asked turning around and propping her head on her hands.

"Mother never talks about them actually but she must really love father to stay with him. And she treats Euphie onee-sama like her own."

"I still don't understand why she lets her husband sleep around," Alice said.

"I think he's been doing that before they were married, I mean I told you about my other half siblings right?" Nunnally said.

"Yeah but they're all studying abroad in the U.S. right?" Alice asked, "Wish Carine studied abroad too, then we wouldn't have to deal with her."

"Alice…" Nunnally said laughing weakly.

Carine was another one of Charles' children. She's the same age as Nunnally and also attends Ashford Academy. But unlike Euphemia, Carine treats Nunnally like trash and even openly insults Nunnally's mother. Lelouch had heard this one time and he slapped the girl across the face. Carine only learned from that incident to be careful around Lelouch. Nunnally was too nice to hit anyone so she just takes the insults most of the time. If it weren't for Alice and Nemo defending her, Nunnally would've been bullied out of the school.

Alice's phone rang at that moment and she answered it. "Alright, send the driver to Nunnally's place."

"You have to go?" Nunnally asked.

"Not until my driver gets here," Alice said.

Meanwhile, Lelouch was in his room finishing his homework while surfing the net on his laptop. His mother had Sayoko bring up the rest of his unfinished dinner and it lay on the side of the desk uneaten. He's still too pissed off to eat. As he closed his notebook, his phone rang. He stood up and grabbed phone which he had thrown on his bed when he came home and looked at the number. 'Unknown', who is calling him at this hour?

"Hello?" he said flipping the phone open.

"Lelouch?" a female voice said.

Wait this voice. Lelouch recognized it but how did she get her number?

"C.C.?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes," she replied.

"How did you get my number?" Lelouch asked.

"Milly gave it to me earlier today," C.C. said.

'Damn, just like her to give out my private info.' Lelouch thought.

"Can I ask you a favor?" C.C. said.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"Can you come get me?" C.C. said.

"What?" Lelouch asked confused.

"Well it's like this; I was visiting my cousin since I haven't seen her in a while and stayed for dinner. I ended up staying longer then planned and their driver had gone home already. So I told them I would take the train back instead but this is my first time so I'm lost." C.C. explained.

"And why didn't you ask your cousin to go with you?" Lelouch asked face-palming.

There was a moment of silence, "it didn't occur to me."

"Ok fine, where are you?" Lelouch asked grabbing a brown jacket.

"Shinagawa Station," C.C. said.

"Alright I'll be right there," Lelouch said.

Lelouch left a quick message with Sayoko about going out for a bit and headed for the train station. It was only 8 p.m. and the trains don't stop running until 11 p.m. He got to Shinagawa Station at around 8:30 and looked around. Surely a girl with bright neon green hair would stand out like a sore thumb. The trains behind him moved on and he saw her, standing on the other side of the platform. He signaled her to wait as he went and out of the station so he can get to her side through another entrance.

"You troublesome woman," Lelouch said as he approached her.

"Well I didn't know who else to call," C.C. said.

"Whatever, now where do you live?" Lelouch asked.

"Shinjuku," C.C. replied.

"Go on the other platform and wait for the Yamanote Line, it'll take you straight to Shinjuku Station." Lelouch said.

"Aren't you coming with me?" C.C. asked.

"Oh come on," Lelouch exclaimed.

"I don't want to get lost again," C.C. said looking at him with puppy eyes.

"Alright fine, but you better memorize the train routes," Lelouch said looking away.

They went back to other side and got on the train. It didn't take that long for the train to come and the trip to Shinjuku wasn't all that long either. It wasn't even nine yet when they arrived at Shinjuku Station. Lelouch was about to walk the other way so he can go home but C.C. stopped him.

"You're not going to leave a girl alone at night are you?" she asked.

So Lelouch had no choice but to walk her all the way to her home, which according to her is an apartment. She came alone, the only family member here being her cousin. She wanted to be independent so she asked to rent an apartment by herself instead. Along the way, Lelouch's stomach growled and in the silent night, it sounded like a roar. He had forgotten that he didn't finish dinner.

"Hungry?" C.C. asked.

"I'm fine," Lelouch said.

"How about we grab a bite? My treat, as a thank you," C.C. said.

"Didn't you already eat?" Lelouch asked.

"I'm never too full for pizza," C.C. said, grabbing his wrist and leading him towards the local pizza hut .

_A/N: I like the SuzakuXEuphie ship but things started turning in my head and I began thinking about SuzakuXNunnally. Let's see how it turns out. I just realized how slow the story is moving along, chronologically, it's not even been a day yet in the story. The day is just ending. So I'm going to try and make things move along faster…try to. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.**

_A/N: Alright! Due to popular demand I will cancel my plans for Suzaku and Nunnally, not that I had a plan for them anyways, just some plain old fun. But who knows…maybe in a separate fic…*laughs manically*… And apparently Alice is supposed to have orange hair! My mistake for making her blond in the previous chapters! And nope, still don't proof-read. I originally planned this to be one chapters but I decided to leave it at there. Some suspense?_

**Chapter 5**

As the week progressed, C.C. got closer to all of Lelouch's friends. She was officially inducted into the Student Council by Milly. As expected, Milly threw a welcoming party for C.C. and it was pizza themed. If you look at it from the outside, it would've looked like a regular pizza party but it was quite different to the participants. She had her home chef make every style of pizza known to man. The club house off to the side of the school where the student council held events like this, smelled like pizza for days afterwards. Not that C.C. didn't enjoy that; but the worst that happened, well worst for Lelouch anyways, he was forced into a Cheese-kun costume for the duration of the party. Kallen gladly helped as Suzaku and Rivalz held him down and then laughed as she snapped picture after picture with her camera. The pictures were printed the day after and put up in the student council room.

Saturday soon came and it was the day of the charity event. A total waste of time in Lelouch's opinion where he would be bombarded by old rich men trying to introduce their daughters to him along with meaningless chatter about money, bragging, and self-flattering. His mother and Nunnally went out to have their hair and other things done and Lelouch was idling away the time he had since he doesn't need the whole day to prepare. The thing doesn't start until 6 p.m. anyways.

His mother and Nunnally came back at around 5 and Lelouch went down to greet them. When he went down, it wasn't just his mother and Nunnally, Euphie had come too. All three of them were already in their dresses. Nunnally was wearing a light yellow dress that puffed out at the bottom with white frills on the sleeves, her hair is naturally curly but it seemed more curly then usual. Euphie was wearing a very light purple but not pink strapless night gown with a white silk shawl and what looks like a collar with a rose on it. Her hair was tied into two buns on the side with the rest flowing down, tips curled. Marianne was wearing a gold night gown with her hair tied up in an intricate bun.

"Lelouch, why aren't you ready?" Marianne said when she saw Lelouch.

"Because I can do it in half an hour," Lelouch said cheerfully. "Maybe less, so why are you here Euphie?"

"I'll be going with you guys since my mom isn't feeling very well," Euphie said.

"Didn't we already tell you onii-sama?" Nunnally asked.

"Must've missed it," Lelouch said.

"You can catch up later so hurry up and take a shower," Marianne said, "Sayoko, get Lelouch's cloths ready."

"Yes ojou-sama," Sayoko said and headed upstairs.

As Lelouch claimed, he was ready within half an hour. He did nothing to his hair because it just doesn't seem to matter since his hair is already all over the place. His tux was black; the jacket was trimmed with gold, but the cuff of the sleeve was purple and it had a tail that reached the back of knees. The white shirt underneath had a purple tuff that stuck out his neck instead of a tie or bowtie. Perhaps it was a joke but there was also a red cape, Lelouch decided to ignore that and his mother didn't comment about the lack of a cape.

"Where's otoo-san?" Nunnally asked.

"He went on ahead," Marianne said leading them outside, "now hurry, Tamaki's waiting."

They all got into the limo and were on their way.

It was just what Lelouch expected, a lot of rich men with their wives or mistresses or both chattering about meaningless things. The Host came to greet him and his family as mannerisms require and inquired about his father. Lelouch paid no attention to this as he began searching the room for Suzaku, who cares if he'll get in the way between him and Euphie. He can't survive this night alone. He was saved the trouble by Suzaku heading towards them, waving enthusiastically. Suzaku was wearing a white tux where the tail is split in half at back and for decorative purposes; it also had two gold chains running across his torso. He wore a black shirt underneath with gold designs on it. Euphie quickly went up to give him a kiss and Suzaku turned his attention to Lelouch.

"So finally decided to come to these huh?" Suzaku asked.

"Not really, I wouldn't have come if I could." Lelouch said.

"Good evening Suzaku-san," Nunnally said stepping next to her brother.

Before Suzaku could say anything, an orange haired girl pounced on Nunnally. "Yo Nunnally, you're finally here!"

"Alice, don't do that!" Nunnally sighed recovering from the shock.

"Sorry," Alice said though with an unserious tone.

"Where's Nemo?" Nunnally asked.

"She's not here yet," Alice said and began to drag Nunnally away, "Now let us go talk."

"Suzaku, I would watch out for Nunnally and her friends tonight," Lelouch said remembering the day Alice was over.

"Suzaku, where's your father?" Marianne said coming up to the teens.

"Ah he was talking to Asplund-san at first," Suzaku looking back towards the direction he came from.

Lloyd Asplund is a world famous robotics engineer who takes his work very seriously. From what Lelouch has heard about him, there's practically nothing on his love-life, though he's always seen in public with his assistant Cecile Croomy. He and his rival, Rakshata Chawla of India are always competing over who discovers or improves something first.

As more people arrived, the place became more crowded because the area in the center was reserved as the dance floor. Lelouch does not know how this raises money as it just seems to waste money but he was soon left alone as Suzaku and Euphie went dancing. As he looked around he thought he saw a wave of green hair amongst the crowd but when he turned back, it was gone. 'Just my imagination,' Lelouch thought. He decides to go to restroom for a bit to freshen up and not seeing where he going collides with one of the caterers. The tray of finger food she was holding fell to the ground with a loud clatter. The people around them looked at them in surprise at the noise but quickly ignored them when they realize what really just happened. Lelouch, knocked off his feet like the other person quickly stood and looked down to help whoever it was.

"Kallen!" Lelouch said astonished, "what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" Kallen said ignoring his offered hand to push herself back up, "Working."

"Why?" Lelouch asked.

"Because unlike somebody, I'm not born with a golden spoon in his mouth so I need to find ways of earning spending money." Kallen said as she tried to clean up the mess.

Lelouch sighed, "well I'll not disturb you then, but while you are part of the cater service for tonight, could you bring me a glass of champagne?" He smirked.

"You're underage," Kallen said.

"Look around Kallen," Lelouch said spreading his arms, "the rich doesn't care much about the rules."

Kallen seemed to just ignore him and walked off towards the kitchen to refill her tray with whatever she was serving before the collision.

Lelouch shrugged it off and walked the other way towards the restroom. He was ambushed by Milly along the way as well but she only greeted him and told him how she doesn't want to be here before her father called her back. Lelouch saw that her father seems to be talking with Lloyd Asplund. A few of his father's business associates had accosted him along the way too each attempting to introduce their daughters to him. He managed to talk his way out of the conversations but a few girls seem to taken the initiative and followed him to continue talking. He somehow shook them off without insulting them at the end though. Having finally made it to the bathroom without anymore surprises but he was hit with another after he came out.

C.C. had just walked out of the girl's bathroom and they looked at each other in silence before Lelouch blurted out, "what are you doing here?"

"Well isn't it obvious, supporting the children's hospital." C.C. said a bit sarcastically.

"Who are you here with?" Lelouch asked. He was surprised seeing as most of the people are the incredibly rich who has nothing better to do.

"If I said I was here with a guy, would you be jealous?" C.C. said playfully.

"Wait…what? Answer serious damn it…" Lelouch said feeling his face get a little hot.

"I'm here with my cousin and her parents. She ditched me a while ago when two of her friends dragged her away though," C.C. said.

The shock of meeting C.C. here finally subsiding, he took a good look at her. Her hair was not tied up like it was in school but flowed straight down her head in length of green, with two strands on either side of her face held in a gold bead. She wore a gold necklace that splayed out below her neck with a hollow oval shaped pendant at the center. Her dress was a strapless white gown that honestly seemed to be the most revealing he's seen this evening. The part that covers her breast was split in two so you can see the line so her shoulders and practically her entire back were exposed. She wore a pink to cover her exposed shoulders but that shawl was silk and was thin enough to see through. She had on gold and silver bangles on each arm as well. Lelouch was looking away once he realized the dress that C.C. was wearing and C.C. noticed it.

"So what do you think?" she asked him as they walked back out away from the restrooms.

"Think of what?" Lelouch asked still not looking at him, trying to hide his blush.

"How do I look tonight?" C.C. asked again.

"Um…well…uh…you look…great." Lelouch said.

"That's too generic, how great?" she asked teasingly.

"Uh…"

"Go on…" C.C. urged him.

"You look…" Lelouch hesitating a moment. "very…pretty."

"How pretty?" C.C. continued.

Lelouch didn't say anything.

"What's the word?" C.C. urged him on.

"Um…beautiful?" Lelouch said still not looking at her.

"Now look at me and say it," C.C. said.

Lelouch took notice of where they were going and realized she had led him into a corner. She had cornered him physically and mentally!

"Don't tell me you're shy," C.C. teased.

"Of course not!" Lelouch said.

C.C. looked at skeptically.

Clearing his throat Lelouch turned around and looked at her, though he didn't know where to look. He doesn't want to appear rude and look at her chest nor does he want to look into her golden eye either. He tried looking at her lips instead but quickly looked away shaking away certain thoughts. He finally decides to look at her forehead. "You look very beautiful tonight, C.C." he finally said albeit stiff.

"There that was so hard," C.C. said.

Lelouch looked away again.

"Well?" she said to him.

"What?" Lelouch said.

"You're with a very beautiful girl and you're at a dance party, so shouldn't you ask me to dance?" C.C. asked slyly.

"I don't dance…" Lelouch said simply.

"You're boring," C.C. said, the playfulness in her voice gone.

Just then, Kallen burst through the crowd. She was no longer carrying a tray of food and she was panting. She looked back and then forward and noticed Lelouch and C.C.

"Ah C.C. you're here too?" Kallen asked. "I just saw Milly."

"Nice to see you here to Kallen-san," C.C. said politely.

"Same here, but I have to run. I just got away from Gino; he kept asking to dance despite knowing I work here…and that stupid cape. I'm going to hide out in the kitchen for a while. If he asks you, say you haven't seen me." Kallen said quickly and left them again.

They watched her turn a corner to what must be the kitchen area and no sooner, Gino showed up. He saw them and ran up to greet them.

"Yo Lelouch," Gino said cheerfully before changing completely and bowing. "Good evening, C.C.-san you look very beautiful tonight."

"Good evening to you too," Lelouch answered for her.

"Let the lady speak for herself Lelouch," Gino said. "Anyways, I'm looking for Kallen; she's working as a caterer."

"No I haven't," Lelouch said deciding to help Kallen this time. "And are you wearing a cape?" Gino's tux was similar to Suzaku's except that instead of gold chains across the torso that held the jacket together, it had four gold buttons. But the most ridiculous part was the green and gold embroidered cape with a raised neckband he was wearing.

"Yup, do you like it?" he asked.

"I don't know what to say," Lelouch said.  
"Hm…well see you around; I'm going continue looking for Kallen." Gino said and walked away.

"So you're really not going to ask me to dance?" C.C. asked.

"Like I said, I don't dance," Lelouch said.

"Ok then," C.C. shrugged and turned around and sang, "Oh Gino!"

"Wait what are you doing?" Lelouch asked rounding on her.

"Well if you're not going to ask me to dance then I might as well find someone else right?" C.C. said.

"Why Gino?" Lelouch asked.

"What's wrong with him?" C.C. asked.

"Nothing but…"

"Oh are you jealous now?" she interrupted him.

"Absolutely not!" Lelouch said.

"Then why shouldn't I ask Gino to dance, he's pretty charming." C.C. teased.

Lelouch didn't know why really, but now that he's met her here and saw what she's wearing he doesn't want to see her with another guy. Did he start getting protective of her after being assigned her guide on her first day of school? It's not that he doesn't trust Gino but Gino has always been a smooth talker, especially to girls.

"Ok, I'll dance!" Lelouch exclaimed. "Mind you, I'm not very good."

"Ask me formally," C.C. said.

"You witch…" Lelouch muttered.

C.C. just stared at him.

"May I have this dance?" Lelouch said bowing and offering his hand.

"Yes you may," C.C. replied, taking the offered hand.

"You guys called?" Gino said coming back to them.

"Oh right," C.C. said, "I think I just saw Kallen by the entrance."

"Ok thanks," Gino said and rushed off.

They stepped out onto the dance floor as a new song began to play. All of these rich socials all have one thing in common, classical music. The musicians on the stage began playing and they started dancing.

"Thought you didn't know how to dance," C.C. said.

"Kaa-san made me take ballroom dancing when I was a kid, though I didn't like it. So that's why I don't dance," Lelouch said.

Lelouch saw Suzaku dancing with Nunnally and Alice and Nemo talking with Euphie. Euphie looked kind of annoyed though at the two as she watched Suzaku. Suzaku being the perfect gentleman is paying attention to his dance partner. "You should pay attention to your dance partner and not other women," C.C. said.

"I was not!" Lelouch retorted looking back at her.

As the dance progressed, Lelouch's resentment at practically being blackmailed into dancing disappeared. He was actually enjoying this and he was beginning to zone everything else out. He didn't notice everyone's eyes on him and the other dancers leaving to watch him and C.C. dance. He looked into C.C.'s eyes for the first time that night and was lost in a trance. His body moved naturally to the music being played around him and everything and everyone except C.C. just seemed like a blur of color and lights to him. It's as if they were the only two in the room and Lelouch temporarily forgot all about his troubles as he danced. The musicians seemed to have noticed it too as they began to pick up the tempo, glad that someone seems to be genuinely enjoying the music. They spun around the room in a wave of white, black, and green. Marianne watched and noted the happy and carefree expression on his son's face as he danced with this mysterious girl with green hair. As far as she knew, Lelouch hated dancing so he shouldn't be enjoying that part. So it must be the company. As the song ended, they slowed to a stop but did not get out of their dancing positions. It's only when everyone started clapping that Lelouch finally realized what happened. He quickly let go of C.C. but she grabbed his wrist.

"We should at least bow," she whispered into his ear.

"No we don't…" Lelouch said.

C.C. was already bowing and she was not letting go of his wrist. If he had been stronger, he could've wrenched it free so he had no choice but to give a curt bow. He quickly led C.C. away to a table in the back afterwards.

"Well that was fun," C.C. said.

"That was embarrassing," Lelouch said.

"What are you talking about?" Everyone loved it," C.C. said. "And you know you did too."

Just then, Suzaku, Euphie, Nunnally, and her friends found them at the table.

"Well Lelouch, never knew you liked dancing. You always said you hated it," Suzaku teased.

"Shut up," Lelouch said annoyed.

"That was amazing, onii-sama." Nunnally exclaimed.

"And you seemed to so resent the idea of coming too," Alice said poking him in the shoulder.

"You were great, nee-san." Nemo said sitting down next to C.C.

Lelouch looked at them, "nee-san?"

"Oh right, this is my cousin Nemo and it seems you two already know each other," C.C. said.

It seems that Lelouch and C.C. had become the new topic around the room. Milly, Gino, and even Anya had found Lelouch moments later and they were able to form a wall so that he was hidden. They all either praised or teased Lelouch about his dancing. Lelouch could hear a few things said about him from the people passing by the table.

"Wasn't that Lelouch Lamperouge? Son of Charles Lamperouge," one passerby muttered to another person, "never knew he was such a good dancer."

"Yes, since he rarely comes to these socials," the other replied.

"Who was that girl with green hair though?" Never seen her before," another woman said to her friends as they passed by.

"Well whoever it was, she looks beautiful. Perfect for such a fine young gentleman." One of her friend replied.

"He's as refined as his brother Clovis or Schneizel," another friend giggled. "Not to mention good looking."

"I wonder if his father knows the mysterious girl with green hair or her family," a man said as he passed by.

"Speaking of Charles Lamperouge, I haven't seen him yet," the woman with the man said.

"That's a good point Lelouch, where is your dad anyways?" Suzaku asked looking around.

"I don't know and I don't particularly care," Lelouch said trying to ignore what everyone else was saying, "sleeping with some other women? Get ready to welcome more brothers and sisters Nunnally, Euphie."

Just then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the front doors open. The table was on that side of the room so he had a perfect view of the door. And speak of the devil; Charles Lamperouge had just walked into the room followed by a blond young man, slightly older then Lelouch. As the man turned his face Lelouch's eyes widen in shock. 'What was he doing back here all of a sudden!?' he thought.

_A/N: for Suzaku's tux, it's basically his Knight of Rounds uniform without the blue cape…though I was sorely tempted to give him a cape. Since I didn't give Lelouch a cape, I didn't want to give Suzaku a cape as well. As for Lelouch's tux, it's basically the one he wore as a kid when he stormed the throne room after his mother's death, just black… and without the cape. Maybe in a future chapter I'll make them wear a cape…And I'm very bad at describing cloths so if you're confused by C.C.'s dress, look on my profile for the link that I based it on._

_They may seem a bit OOC…just my feeling. And I don't like GinoXKallen…so that won't happen. And I've always loved violin and piano music so I tried to find a good piano/violin piece for them to dance too. However…I failed in finding one. Though I was listening to "Beethoven's 6__th__ symphony – Pastoral" while writing the dance part. So yes, who is the new arrival? =)_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: I've been reading manga lately and got distracted, especially "Bitter Virgin" by Kusunoki Kei. I loved it but the ending was…meh . I mean I understand it has to end like that because life never ends like they do in perfect love stories but I still need some closure with that ending. I need to know that they will get married in future and all that!! Okay back to Code Geass._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass…**

**Chapter 6:**

Lelouch stood with shocked eyes at the new arrival that came with his father. Lelouch thought he would never have to see that person again after he went to the U.S. for college, but here he was. That man doesn't seem to have noticed him yet, maybe he can slip away without his notice. Lelouch really doesn't want to deal with that person tonight, but thanks to her sister's naiveté…

"Schneizel nii-sama!" Nunnaly yelled.

Too late, Schenizel had noticed the group and Lelouch lost his chance to escape. Schneizel whispered something into his father's ear and walked towards Lelouch's group as their father walked off in another direction. Suzaku moved a little closer to Lelouch to show his support. Nunnally and Euphie just looked on innocently. Nunnally doesn't have any idea of the rivalry between the two half brothers and Euphie usually stays out of it because she doesn't want to choose a brother. C.C. was emotionless.

"Well hello there Lelouch," Schneizel greeted. "Long time no see."

"Not long enough for me," Lelouch replied. "What brings you back to Japan?"

"I had time and decided to visit otoo-sama," Schneizel said.

"Schneizel nii-sama, did Cornelia nee-sama come back too?" Euphie asked.

"Unfortunately not, she had some business to take care of." Schneizel said.

"Oh I thought she would be back since you're back too," Euphie said.

"So Lelouch how's Chess Club?" Schneizel asked.

"Better then when you were president," Lelouch said.

Schneizel was the founder of Ashford's Chess Club and the only person Lelouch could not defeat. Lelouch joined hoping to change that but to this day, no luck. When Schneizel graduated, he nominated Lelouch to be the president. Though everyone thought it was a good idea since they were half brothers and both so good at chess, Lelouch knew Schneizel did it to mock him. Lelouch was always competing with Schneizel and when Schneizel did that he's basically saying, 'I'm giving you a chance, let's see if you can beat me.' Lelouch accepted the challenge and since then became the best chess player of the school like when Schneizel was.

"Well I'm sure you've gotten better the last two years so let's have a match," Schneizel said. "Or are you afraid of losing in front of everybody?"

"I gladly accept," Lelouch said, "If you can find a chess board and set."

"Hm that is a problem isn't it," Schneizel said, his voice feinting concern. "Kanon!"

A young man with light brown hair appeared from the crowd and walked towards them. He was tall and lanky, not exactly your body builder type. He was wearing green formal wear with gold embroidered designs with a matching match. He also has these gold shoulders padding with that cloth flowing down.

"Yes?" he addressed Schneizel.

"Can I ask you a favor to out and buy a chess set? I know it's late," Schneizel asked.

"Of course," the man named Kanon said and bowed slightly before turning around to leave.

"Who was that?" C.C. asked, talking for the first time since Schneizel's appearance.

"My personal assistant," Schneizel answered.

"In college?" C.C. asked.

"Well I have many other things to take care of besides college work," Schneizel said. "But I don't believe we've met, I mean I know everyone else here except you."

"I'm Lelouch's date, you can just call me C.C." she replied.

"Oh, date?" Schneizel asked surprised.

Lelouch was also taken aback by her answer as well. Since when did she become her date? They didn't come together and he didn't even know she would be here. Lelouch looked at with surprise at C.C. but Schneizel was watching them, studying them with those light purple, almost gray eyes. C.C. nudged him behind his back and Lelouch decided to play along. He'll talk to her later about it.

"Yes, she's my date." Lelouch said. "What about you? I'm sure girls would be lining up for you like they did in high school."

"I was in a hurry and could not find a date but I don't feel it necessary tonight," Schneizel said. "Besides, I'm sure the girl's are now lining up for you if I remember the rumors about us back then."

Suzaku coughed a little loudly after Schneizel said that, and coughed several more times consecutively. When he turned around, his lips were twitching.

The Lamperouge men were somehow all blessed with good looks and when they were in high school, including Clovis, they were called the heart throb trio. They were the object of affection for practically every girl in school.

"It's my pleasure to meet such a beautiful young woman like you," Schneizel said taking C.C.'s hand and kissing it. "My little brother can be a bit brusque sometimes so please watch him."

"You can leave him to me," C.C. said graciously retracting her to hold Lelouch's arm.

Just then, Lloyd Asplund appeared, his assistant Cecile Croomy following close behind, "Ah Schneizel Lamperouge, nice to see you again"

"Lloyd, good to see you," Schneizel said.

"I'm going to borrow your brother for a little bit so excuse us," Lloyd said to the group.

"When Kanon returns, I'll find you." Schneizel said and they walked off.

When Schneizel's back and voice disappeared completely, Lelouch finally sat back down with the others. Suddenly, Suzaku burst out laughing and Euphie giggled along. Lelouch knew what he was laughing about and he threw a crumpled napkin at his face to stop him. Suzaku's laugh died down a bit but he was still chuckling. Lelouch thought he had finally rid himself of that stupid title from when his brothers were at school.

"What's so funny?" C.C. asked confused, seeing as everyone else in the table seems to know and was trying to suppress their laughter.

"Oh right, you weren't here for all that," Euphie said as she continue to giggle.

"Don't say it," Lelouch warned.

"What is it?" C.C. asked.

It was Alice who said it, "When Lelouch and two of his older brothers were at school, they were known as the heart throb trio. They were so famous for their looks, even us who were in middle section knew about it."

"Heart throb trio?" C.C. asked a bit skeptically.

"After Clovis graduated last year, Lelouch did all he could to squash that ridiculous title. It worked but those three were a legend." Suzaku said wiping away tears. "A lot of guys just laugh about it now, though not that we didn't laugh about it before. It was only the girls who took it seriously."

"You guys are mean, stop laughing at onii-sama." Nunnally said.

"Sorry Nunnally, but it's just that we haven't heard anyone mention that title in so long." Alice said with a bit of laughter.

"You know what, screw you guys." Lelouch said getting up and walked away.

"You think he's angry?" Euphie asked concerned.

"Don't worry, he'll cool down." Suzaku said.

C.C. got up to follow him.

Lelouch walked the stairs at the end of the room up to second floor. He doesn't know what's up there or if he's allowed but he doesn't care. Too many things had happened that night and he needed time alone. Being forced to dance, the emotions he felt during the dance, and then the brother he hated most showing up, then suddenly having a date. Can't believe Schneizel went to the trouble of telling someone to go out and buy a chess set just so they could play here. Schneizel always liked to show him up whenever possible. And why did he suddenly return, Odysseus hasn't returned once since he left four years ago. He found out that the second floor had a huge balcony that looked out into a garden.

C.C. saw him head up the stairs and followed slowly. Maybe she had gone too far in playing with him tonight but Lelouch was just so much to pick on. She had never had so much fun with a guy before. Also unlike most guys she meets, he didn't try to flirt with her the moment they met. Like when she first arrived tonight, she was almost swamped with rich, spoiled, and conceited young men. Then, whether it was fate or just crazy luck she met Lelouch while trying to go hide in the restroom. As C.C. turned the former at the top of the stairs, she saw that there was a spacious balcony and the person leaning forward against the white marble rail was none other then Lelouch.

C.C. approached the black hair teen and standing next to him, "why are you so gloomy?"

"Nothing," Lelouch said.

"Is being called one of the heart throb trio really that bad?" C.C. asked. "Shouldn't you be flattered?"

Lelouch laughed, "I should be but the reason I don't like it is because I hate being associated with my brothers." He doesn't know why he's telling her all this but he didn't really care right now.

"You never told me you had half siblings," C.C. said.

"I didn't feel like that's important," Lelouch said. "And what's up with the date thing?"

"Hm that?" C.C. said turning her face to look at him. "I sensed that you two didn't get along and thought I'd help you showing him up by pretending to be your date."

"Oh so that was just pretend?" Lelouch teased. "It sounds like you don't want to be my date after all."

"Well you never asked," C.C. said.

"Well then," Lelouch turned towards C.C. facing her and extending his hand. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me for the rest of the night?"

"I love to," C.C. said taking the offered hand.

Since he's here, might as well have some fun. C.C. wasn't that bad of a girl and after the whole conversation about the heart throb trio thing, Lelouch realized she's one of the few girls who don't act like a stuttering wreck or Barbie when he talks to her. Lelouch never thought about dating and is still not seriously considering it but tonight is an exception. They headed back down the stairs towards the party, Lelouch suddenly enjoying this way more then usual. His fun is short lived as the man named Kanon was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.

"Your brother is waiting for you," he said gesturing towards the right of the room, off the dance floor.

Lelouch had completely forgotten about the chess match with his brother in the heat of the conversation and event that followed. Kanon led him and C.C. who was holding on to Lelouch's right arm to Schneizel. Lelouch wasn't afraid; in fact he's quite confident about this. Schneizel had somehow conjured two comfy armchairs on either side of a small square table which sat a very simple chess set. Schneizel was sitting on the white side. Kanon went over to Schneizel's side.

"I assume you'd want the black side," Schneizel gestured. "Unless you changed your playing style."

"No, I have to thank you for remembering this." Lelouch said sitting down on the black side. C.C. stood on his right her left hand on his shoulders. "Well, your move Schneizel."

The match had barely begun and people had already started gathering the table. Lelouch's mother had come over to watch along Charles. Marianne had cheered Lelouch on but Charles remained silent, watching the progress of the match. Soon it felt like the entire room was watching their chess match. How did it catch the interest of so many people? Rich people really do have nothing better to do at events like these. Suzaku, Euphie, Nunnally and her friends stood behind Lelouch's chair. Whispered conversations rippled across the audience, but Lelouch paid no attention to them. The only thing in his eyes are Schneizel and the chess board, and the only thing on his mind is scenarios and moves that he could use to defeat Schneizel, though he seemed to be constantly aware of C.C.'s hand on his shoulder.

Even though Lelouch hadn't played Schneizel in two years, Schneizel's skills didn't seem to have rusted one bit. They were both able to put immense pressure on each other though neither of them showed it. Lelouch was forced to change strategy so many times as Schneizel pushed him back. He was able to push Schneizel into the corner several time as well but they would eventually go back into a state of draw again, trying to gain an advantage over the other. C.C. bent down and whispered something in Lelouch's ear.

"I'm sorry C.C. but I'm going to have to ask you to not give me anymore advice," Lelouch said. "I can deal with him on my own."

C.C. listened and didn't whisper anymore tips into his ear as the match progressed. This is something between brothers, sibling rivalry so she should stay out for now. Both sides had lost about half their pieces by now. Lelouch made good use of his queen piece to take half of Schneizel's pieces and Schneizel's knights worked their way through. The match went on for what seemed like an hour until Lelouch felt the pressure of losing. Schneizel had taken most of his important pieces leaving on his queen, a knight, the bishops, and one castle, along with a few pawns that survived. Schneizel on the other hand still had most of his powerful pieces losing all his pawns but one.

"Check," Schneizel said.

Lelouch moved his castle to defend the king only to have it taken by Schneizel's Bishop.

"Checkmate," Schneizel said.

Lelouch looked at the board in shock and realize he was right. Lelouch had lost…again to Schneizel. The audience clapped at the performance and Schneizel got up.

"You've improved Lelouch," Schneizel commented. "But I'm still better."

Lelouch stayed sitting, shocked at the lost. He should've been used to it by now having lost so many times before to Schneizel but he was so sure he could win this time. The crowd that had gathered began to disburse and as he started to recover from his shock, he caught of glimpse of his father who was looking at him with mocking eyes. Suzaku and the others moved forward towards Lelouch, even Milly was with them.

"It's okay Lelouch," Suzaku said.

"I'm sure you can beat him next time," Milly said optimistically.

"Yeah, onii-sama." Nunnally said cheerfully.

Lelouch got up from the chair and faced the group. He lost; he can't undo it now so why mope. But he doesn't know how to respond to his friends' encouragement.

"We still have some time, so let's dance," Euphie said grabbing Suzaku's arm.

"Come on onii-sama," Nunnaly said holding out her hand.

"You guys go ahead," Lelouch said. "Don't worry; I'm not a sore loser or anything."

They all left him to go on the dance floor except C.C. "you're not okay."

"I guess you saw through it," Lelouch said. "I did lose to my rival, so to say."

"So what? It's just chess. I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to beat him." C.C. said walking in front of him then turned around to face him. "And besides, it just shows that Schneizel's the bigger geek here."

Lelouch chuckled, "Shall we dance?"

"I thought you didn't like dancing," C.C. said.

"Tonight is an exception," Lelouch said.

_A/N: For some reason I did not particularly like this chapter…ah whatever. Lelouch and C.C. aren't officially dating here just yet, so don't presume things. And I just realized how hard it was to write for C.C. because you always have to maintain an air of mystery with her. Schneizel and Kanon are gay for each other…just kidding. xD_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Realized I didn't even mentioned Gino or Kallen in the last chapter even though they were there. Oh well they're not all that important here. A note about the Japanese summer vacation for schools, they start a lot later then ours because they don't transition to the next grade after summer vacation._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 7:**

School the Monday following turned out quite tiring. Word that Schneizel Lamperouge had returned somehow leaked to the student body. Though he graduated two years ago, Schneizel still seemed to be quite well known at Ashford. He even visited the school as alumni who didn't particularly bothered Lelouch since Schneizel was kept distracted by the principal trying to make connections with Schneizel so he might donate to the school when he's made it in the world, or he's surrounded by a hoard a hormone driven fan girls. What Lelouch found worse was that Schneizel was staying with them.

_Yesterday…_

_Lelouch walked downstairs to grab some breakfast but stopped when he saw a familiar face sitting at the table, a familiar but unwelcoming face._

"_What are you doing?" Lelouch asked, not so politely._

"_Well I am visiting father and need a place to stay so might as well stay here," Schneizel said over his coffee._

"_Wait, how long are you staying? Don't you have school?" Lelouch asked._

"_Its summer vacation for schools in the states right now," Schneizel said. "Euphie said she wants to see Cornelia again so want to go and visit along with Euphie once your summer starts in a few weeks?"  
_

Lelouch was sitting in his class, during break since he had nothing else better to do. Milly had came in a few moments ago and dragged C.C. off somewhere for something that Lelouch did not particularly care about and Suzaku went to Euphie's classroom. He was just about take a little nap before class starts but he was interrupted by Rivalz.

"Yo Lelouch, so your brother came back," he said sliding into C.C.'s seat.

"And the worst part, he won't leave until term ends." Lelouch sighed.

"Just a few weeks," Rivalz said. "By the way, what are you planning to do this summer?"

"I don't know," Lelouch replied. "Schneizel invited me and my sister to go visit the states because Euphie wanted to see Cornelia. Nunnally is excited to go but I'm not sure if I want to."

"Lucky you, you're rich enough to go on these far away vacations whenever you like." Rivalz said.

"If you want, you can take my place. So long as you keep your hands off my sister," Lelouch offered sarcastically.

"I'm hurt you see me like that, Lelouch." Rivalz said feinting, before perking back up. "I heard about Saturday night. So what's up between you two huh?"

"Absolutely nothing," Lelouch replied.

Suddenly the bell signaling that class started sounded around the school. Rivalz left Lelouch's side to return to his own seat just as Suzaku and C.C. came back into the room. C.C. sat down next to Lelouch and took out her books for the next class as the teacher; Ougi-sensei walked into the room at the front and started writing things on the board. About half way through class though, the door opened again and their homeroom teacher, Villetta-sensei came in. Though her Villetta is her first name, most students elected to call her Villetta-sensei rather then Nu-sensei and she never corrected them. She handed something to Ougi and was about to walk out when Ougi grabbed her by the arm and whispered something in her ear. Villetta jumped back in surprise but everyone can see a blush forming on her cheeks. Several students wolf whistled while random crys of "You the man, Ougi –sensei" or ""Go, Ougi-sensei filled the room". Everyone knew there was something between those two though they never openly admitted it but most of the teasing was directed at Ougi since he wasn't as strict.

"Now's not the best time Ougi!" they could her mutter.

"I just thought I'd ask before I forget," Ougi chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

Villetta turned Ougi around so they had their back to the class and whispered something his ear and Ougi nodded before she turned to leave. The rest of the lesson seemed a lot more cheerful after that and Ougi didn't even give them any homework.

When lunch came, everyone gathered at their usual place. C.C. bought pizza again and everyone just wondered how she can eat pizza every single day while still keeping that figure. Lelouch teased her about her pizza addition and she retaliated with more teasing by trying to seductively feed Lelouch the piece she was eating. A certain orange haired girl was watching all of this. Shirley did not think much of C.C. when they first met; just that she was a nice person to hang around with. But as the weeks progressed, she's been noticing that C.C.'s been getting closer to Lelouch, too close to be anything innocent.

"Hey, C.C.-san I heard you went to that charity event Saturday." Shirley asked, wanting to confirm what she's been hearing.

"Hm?" C.C. stopped leaning up at Lelouch and face Shirley. "Yeah, why?"

"So did you…go with anybody…in particular?" Shirley asked, her smile twitching.

"My cousin and her family," C.C. replied.

"Really…I heard something…different," Shirley said. She had heard about Lelouch and C.C. that night, about how well they danced. Shirley had tried asking Lelouch to dance in similar events but he always refused saying he doesn't dance. Why did he dance with C.C. then? She had heard this from her parents who were talking about it. They didn't know it was C.C. but Shirley knew once they mentioned long neon green hair. They even praised C.C. saying she's a good match for a young man such as Lelouch Lamperouge.

"Shirley, why weren't you there anyways?" Milly asked suddenly.

"Ah…I wasn't feeling well that night," Shirley said, surprised at Milly's question.

"Ah, you missed two great shows." Milly said. "Both starring our own Lelouch Lamperouge!"

"Ahaha…really?" Shirley asked, playing dumb.

"Never knew you could dance so well Lelouch," Milly said. "All those times I invited you to dance, you said you were bad at dancing."

"Well you wouldn't accept my 'I don't dance,' answer," Lelouch said.

"I've known Lelouch since we were kids," Suzaku explained, "He has never been much of a public person."

"But he still danced with C.C. that's unfair!" Shirley blurted out.

"Then as compensation, Lelouch will be forced to dance with you next time." Rivalz said. "And we'll enforce it."

"What next time?" Lelouch asked.

"The after party for the end of the semester festival," Rivalz said. "It may not be as fancy but it's still a dance."

"Wait, that's coming up?" Lelouch said.

"Villetta-sensei told us about it during homeroom," Rivalz said.

"She did?" Lelouch asked.

"You never pay attention do you?" Rivalz sighed.

"No, I feel that sometimes it's too trivial." Lelouch said.

"What's the theme this year?" Suzaku asked, taking a bite from the sandwich Euphie was holding up.

Milly laughed mischievously, looking towards Lelouch. "Masked superheroes!"

"Another difficult theme," Kallen muttered.

"I already have everything planned out," Milly said ignoring Kallen's remark. "Lelouch here will be the main superhero!"

"Wait, what? Why?" Lelouch asked shocked.

"You have a very…uh…charismatic voice," Milly said scrunching up in concentration.

"You just want to put me in a costume didn't you?" Lelouch asked suspiciously.

"Anyways!" Milly said ignoring Lelouch. "C.C. you know what to do right?"

"Yeah," C.C. replied eating the last of her pizza. "I'll get the materials tonight."

"What?" Lelouch asked. There seems to be a lot of surprises today.

"She asked me to specially design your costume," C.C. said.

Lelouch didn't know what to say. He doesn't know if C.C.'s taste is as "exciting" as Milly's so he doesn't know what to expect with that costume. All he can do is pray. Milly proceeded to tell them the plan for the rest of the festival. Apparently she already ordered the uniforms all student council members would be wearing since they were to act as patrols and event organizers; she thought they needed more "authoritative" garments. And Lelouch in his costume will be their "leader" who's yet to have a name. Lelouch had asked why she isn't going to be the "leader" since she's the president but she only said that Lelouch was a better choice without giving another reason.

Lelouch was only able to find out one thing about his costume, which is the same as all the other costumes. It will be black. She's expecting them to wear black in the middle of July? She assured them it would be comfortable in the heat. So it was decided for their theme, Lelouch is their vigilante hero and they would his followers. Well it wasn't their oddest theme ever; they did a cat theme before.

That day after school, Milly demanded all of them to go to the student council room, no exceptions. If Lelouch tries to ditch, Milly would send Kallen after him. And so Lelouch, along with the other student council members in his class went straight to the room after school was over. The different clubs had turned in their finance forms for the festival and Milly wanted them done as soon as possible, meaning today. While Milly herself did the minimal amount of work. They had been given a quota and they're only allowed to leave when they finished that quota. C.C. was the first to finish and left saying she has to get the materials for Lelouch's costume. Lelouch still dreading a bit of what she would make, thinking it be pizza related. Kallen finished next and just left after saying good bye to everyone. Suzaku and Rivalz finished up their quota at about the same time. Rivalz had to go to his part time job and Suzaku offered to wait for Lelouch but Lelouch told him its fine. Nina had slipped out unnoticed by the others, except Milly. Milly left before finishing her quota saying she has to check up on their costumes.

Lelouch could've finished faster but he was just feeling lazy. He thought Shirley would finish way before him but he noticed that she's working at a slower pace then usual. "Don't you usually work faster?" Lelouch asked.

"Ah, I guess I just felt like going at a steadier pace today." Shirley said nervously.

Lelouch just ignored that.

"Lelouch…" Shirley said cautiously.

"Hm?" Lelouch muttered.

"You and C.C. have been getting awfully close lately…" Shirley continued.

"Really? Hasn't noticed," Lelouch replied.

"Is there something…between…you two?" she asked.

"Rivalz asked the same thing earlier," Lelouch said. "If it's about Saturday night, I merely met her there by coincidence."

"So it wasn't a date?" Shirley asked, remembering her disappointment when she heard that.

"No, it was something we told my brother to show him up." Lelouch said.

"So it was pretend?" Shirley asked her voice full of hope.

"I guess you can say that," Lelouch said.

"Ah, that's good." Shirley said under her breath.

"Huh?" Lelouch asked, not catching it.

"Nothing!" Shirley said waving her hands in front of her as a sign to forget it.

Shirley finished soon but she didn't leave. Instead she helped Lelouch finish his quota. When they were done, they packed up their bags to get ready to leave. The sun was already beginning to set.

"Ah Lelouch," Shirley said, getting nervous again. "Can you…escort…me home?"

"Hm why?" Lelouch asked, we live in different parts of town.

"Well you wouldn't leave a girl to go home alone in the dark would you?" Shirley said her face turning into a pout.

Lelouch sighed, "Alright."

They left the building to find that all of the students were gone by now. A few teachers were still here but that was it. Lelouch didn't understand Shirley's sudden change in personality but it's just taking her home so he didn't mind. It just means he won't have to see his father and brother much that night.

"Lelouch, want to come over for dinner?" Shirley suddenly asked at the train station.

"I can't…" Lelouch said politely.

"Its fine, you want to get away from your brother right?" Shirley said cheerfully.

Lelouch thought about it, and she was right. "Alright, I'll be imposing you tonight then." He took out his phone to send Nunnally a message telling her to tell their parents he won't be home for dinner.

_A/N: I won't go into any detail about Villetta and Ougi; just wanted a little OugiXVilletta moment. I use a lot of dialogue…I can't help it. And Shirley begins making her move! To tell you the truth, I had completely forgotten about Shirley until "Kuro no Arcana" mentioned it. Shall I introduce a love rival for Lelouch soon as well? Hmm…_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

_A/N: There was an anime booth at the state fair and there was a complete box set of Code Geass R2, Japanese audio with English/Malay/forgot 3__rd__ language subs. Too bad I was broke…$50…_

**Chapter 8:**

Classes were shorten starting now to give the students time to prepare for the school festival, but that didn't mean they wouldn't have to stay after school. Not only does Lelouch have to organize the chess club event, he also has to help the Student Council. In truth, none of the other clubs really take Milly's themes seriously and only follows it loosely. Only the student council which Milly heads actually follows true to the theme. Although Gino is now the Chess club's vice president, he is nowhere to be found during this preparation time so Lelouch asked Anya to take care of it. She looks reliable enough and he's already got his hands full with the student council.

Ever since Lelouch had gone over to Shirley's for dinner, Shirley has been awfully close to him. Shirley has always scolded Lelouch for his gambling habits and is always the one who's most concerned with him but he never really took notice of this. She always asks Lelouch for help or to accompany her to go do her work and whenever they stayed late, Shirley always asked Lelouch to take her home.

Shirley was not the only one; Kallen has also been badgering him continuously to work faster even though Lelouch was working as fast as he could. It's almost as if Kallen is the true president of the Student Council for her bossiness. But if Milly wouldn't exert her authority in this fashion, someone has to. Lelouch as the vice-president of the Student Council can just choose to not obey her but he just didn't feel like going through the trouble of having to argue with the most stubborn person in the council.

C.C., Rivalz, Nina, and Suzaku merely watched as Lelouch is tortured everyday by the three girls, Shirley, Kallen, and Milly. They had their own work of course.

"You know, I feel as if I should help Lelouch out but this just too entertaining." Rivalz said one day watching Kallen yell at him.

"Suzaku, aren't you Lelouch's best friend? Shouldn't you help?" C.C. asked.

"Sorry," Suzaku laughed. "I don't want to get caught up in the crossfire of Kallen's wrath."

"Shouldn't you help your boyfriend out C.C.? And aren't you afraid of Shirley stealing him away?" Rivalz said playfully.

"He's not my boyfriend…" C.C. said calmly then with an amused expression. "Besides its fun to see him tortured like this."

Within a few days, the uniforms Milly had ordered for them to wear for the festival had arrived. For the guys, it was a black jacket with shoulder areas and wrist gray and clasped together at the top left side with a button and black pants. For the girls, it was a similar jacket but it hugs their bodies more so it shows off their curves better and instead of pants, they were given a very short black skirt. The hem of the tight skirt barely made it pass arms length at their thighs and you have to wonder whether they would be allowed to wear this. Everyone had a black cap with gray lining and a dark visor as well.

C.C. had finished making the first portion of Lelouch's costume which looked like a blue almost purple suit with gold decorative lining and matching boots. She is still working on the cape and mask. Lelouch thought the portion she showed him didn't look so bad. It just reminded him of the formal wear that he has to wear at those fancy parties, albeit colored strangely. Let's hope the rest is okay as well.

Things started to pick up pace as the festival draws near, students running around laden with boxes or costumes or other weird objects. Lelouch was carrying a box of black and white boards down to the chess club room when he met Shirley.

"Lulu, can you help me…well the entire swim club judge something?" Shirley asked coming up to him. He didn't see that Shirley was slightly blushing with the box in front of him.

"Yeah sure," Lelouch said shuffling a bit so he can position the box more comfortably. "I'll meet you at the pool after I drop this off."

"Okay," Shirley said and ran off.

'Wonder what she wants,' Lelouch thought as he walked on.

After leaving the box of black and white boards in the chess club room, Lelouch made his way to the pool to meet Shirley and the rest of the swim team. The Ashford Academy swim team was odd; it was comprised of all girls despite it being a mixed gender team. He saw C.C. walking the opposite direction towards him. Ever since they started preparations for the festival, they haven't seen much of each other because Lelouch was always being dragged off somewhere by Shirley.

"Yo," Lelouch waved. "Where are you going?"

"No where in particular," C.C. answered. "You?"

"Shirley asked me to help the swim club again," Lelouch sighed.

"Since I have nothing better to do, I'll help too." C.C. offered and they walked off towards the pool together.

The indoor pool at Ashford Academy was quite special. The building itself takes up an entire wing of the school and the pool is made to the size of standard Olympic competition pools, 25 meters wide and 50 meters long. It had a full shower and locker room to the side for the students to change in. but what's most impressive was the fact that the pool had a dive tower set at 5 meters, 7.5 meters, and 10 meters. If you want, you can really call the pool at Ashford an Olympic training area. Though when they arrived, no one was there.

"Shirley?" Lelouch yelled.

A door can be heard opening on the other side of the vast room. "Ah, you must be Lelouch kun," a girl yelled. "We'll be out in a sec." And the door closed with an echo. Lelouch could've sworn he heard giggles.

"Never really saw the pool during the daytime empty like this." C.C. commented sitting down at the thing that the swimmers dived off of.

"You've had swim class before, what do you mean you've never seen the pool during the day?" Lelouch said turning around to face her.

"Yeah, when there are other students here," C.C. said propping her head up with her hand. "It seems so much bigger during the day when it's empty."

"Wait…during the day?" Lelouch asked confused.

"Oh, sometimes me and my cousin like to sneak in here at night for a swim." C.C. said calmly. "Well my cousin got me into it. Said she's been doing this since she started here."

"You sneak into the school at night?" Lelouch asked surprised.

"Swimming without worrying about anyone seeing you is quite relaxing," C.C. said, "most of the times we do it naked. Want to join us sometimes?" She winked at him.

"Too much info!" Lelouch said blushing madly turning away, though he couldn't seem to stop imagining what it would've looked like.

C.C. laughed at his reaction but gave no indication of whether she was joking or not.

Meanwhile inside the locker room, Shirley was changing into the costume she would be wearing for the swim club's activity for the festival. The other girls had just finished fixing her hair which now hung down her head in light curls instead of being straight like usual. The swim club had taken total liberty to not follow Milly's theme and instead went with a Hawaiian theme. Like Milly really checks anyways, half the time her themes are used to torture or publicly humiliate someone. They were doing a café like event except the girls are dressed in the skimpiest outfits possible.

Shirley looked at herself in the mirror. When the club wanted another guy's opinion of their costume, they had arbitrarily decided on the Student Council Vice President Lelouch because he was probably the hardest guy to impress in the whole school because of his usual stoic attitude. They all knew Shirley had a crush on him so they made her model. She was excited at first to model this, following the crowd mentality but not as she looked at herself.

"I change my mind," Shirley said her face turning red rapidly. "I can't do it."

"Aw but you look really cute," A light blue hair girl said.

"What part of this constitutes as 'cute'?" Shirley said gesturing to her get-up. "This has exceeded cute when we decided on the tops."

"Don't worry," another brunette said. "This just means we'll get a bigger reaction of out him."

"You want to impress him don't you?" A blond girl said.

"I do but not like this," Shirley whined.

"Well it's too late to change anything, and we really do need to know what a guy thinks. A guy that's not constantly thinking perverted things," another girl said.

"I'll go out and warn him a bit," one of the girls said.

Lelouch heard the door open again and one of the swim club girls walked towards him. She had on an overly innocent smile as she came up to Lelouch.

"Lelouch kun right?" she asked.

"Yes," Lelouch answered. "What is it you girls need? I'm kind of busy."

"Oh it'll only take a sec." the girl said. "We just need a a second opinion on what we're wearing for our café for the school festival. And what better opinion then the vice president himself!"

"Alright…" Lelouch said uncertainly. "Let's get this over with."

"Okay girls!!" she yelled across the pool.

The door opened again and this time, more voices were heard. There were sounds of whining, begging, and encouragement along with sounds of struggling. Lelouch watched with curiosity while C.C. watched with interest. The girl didn't even seem to have noticed the fact that C.C. was there. A group of girls emerged from the door and was surrounding someone while trying to pull her out. It was amazing how they managed to keep her surrounded and hidden until they got right up to Lelouch.

"And now we will present," the girl who had come up to Lelouch said enthusiastically. "Our waitress uniform as modeled by…" followed a dramatic pause, "Shirley Fenette!"

Lelouch let out an audible gasp before blushing furiously. Shirley was in what could be described as a bikini except the top was two coconut halves stringed together covering her breasts while she wore an incredibly short grass luau skirt. On her now curled hair was a red tropical flower and she also wore what looked like a shell necklace.

Shirley had her hands behind her back and was trying to make herself as small as possible not knowing that all she's doing is putting more emphasis on her coconut shelled breasts. She couldn't even look at Lelouch's general direction because she's also blushing just as furiously. Lelouch was quite speechless so the first to speak was C.C.

"How bold…" she commented.

"You were here?!" Shirley said hearing the voice and rounding on C.C., forgetting what she was wearing for a moment so her breasts jiggled a little when she jumped in surprise.

"Thought I'd give Lelouch a hand with whatever he needs to do here," C.C. said calmly, a bit too calm.

"So what do you think, Vice pres?" one of the girls urged.

Lelouch, shaken out of his shock by the sudden question, "It looks…" a pause, "lovely."

"That's it?" the same girl asked.

"Sorry, I have other work to do." Lelouch said and rushed out, face still red as a tomato.

C.C. got up and was about to follow Lelouch before turning back to Shirley. "Don't feel bad, he's just incredibly shocked. I don't think he's ever seen a girl with so much exposed skin."

C.C. walked out leaving the swim club girls to their thoughts.

"Well that was boring," a girl said.

"I think that reaction was funny," another said.

"Yeah, he's not known to be very expressive." Another replied.

Shirley just stood there, not knowing whether to be ashamed of her self or be proud. How does Lelouch think of her now? She hasn't been expecting C.C. to be there too. She did all this because Lelouch seemed to be paying a lot of attention to C.C. lately and just now C.C.'s tone sounded quite negative. Did she go too far in trying to impress Lelouch?

Over the next few days, neither of them mentioned what happened that day. It's almost as if it never happened. Shirley is talking to Lelouch again but their conversations always seemed so awkward now. C.C. didn't say anything to Shirley either but Shirley sometimes sees C.C. whispering something into Lelouch's ear and he back away blushing.

The day before the festival, C.C. brought in the completed costume for Lelouch. Everyone gathered around the huge square bag that she brought it in with. She opened the bag and took out the portion she already showed everyone. Next she took out a black cloth that seemed to be lined with gold as well, this must be the cape. Then she took out the final piece, the mask. Everyone was quite surprised at the detail she put in her work. The cape could be wrapped around the body like a cloak when need to be but it can be opened quite easily. The mask looks like a modified fencing helmet. The back slides up with a switch so it can be put on and taken off easily and the front was a round black material that was similar to the visors everyone else had. Though for some reason, she made it so that a section slides open to only reveal the left eye of the wearer.

Milly declared it a masterpiece and said it would be kept in the student council room forever while Lelouch was left speechless again. He did not hate the costume, it actually looks pretty cool but he still despises the fact that he has to wear it.

_A/N: The beginning of this chapter seemed really hard to write…hence why it took so long. Maybe this chapter is more filler-ish then anything. And totally forgot that Shirley calls Lelouch Lulu, but being the laziness that is me I won't go back to edit. And the description of the pool, I seem to remember from the anime, that their pool is actually quite impressive with dive towers included. I had quite a bit of fun writing the ending…hope I didn't go over board._


	9. Chapter 9

_AN: Why the late release? Because I just started college and am trying to get used to things. I also found out I have at two big research papers to do. They won't be due for a while but still, they'll take time. So this a little warning that my releases will now be slower. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass, if I did I'd be pretty rich right now I think.**

**Chapter 9:**

"Say it," Milly ordered.

"No," Lelouch said flatly, voice slightly muffled by the mask he's wearing.

"Please?" Milly begged with puppy eyes.

"That won't work on me," Lelouch said.

"C.C. does it and it works for you!" Milly whined.

"Uh…" Lelouch said awkwardly.

"Just say it," Milly said with a hint of annoyance.

"No!" Lelouch refused again.

"It's like I'm making you say _nyah_ or anything silly like that," Milly said, thrusting the microphone at his chest.

"I'll say if you want Milly-san," Rivalz offered.

"That's right, let Rivalz say it!" Lelouch said eagerly.

"You're the main character for today, so you have to!" Milly countered, ignoring Rivalz.

"I didn't volunteer for this!" Lelouch argued back.

"As the president of the student council, I order you to say it." Milly said officially.

"Didn't you say I was the main character for today?" Lelouch said shrewdly.

"So you admit to being the main character, it's your responsibility." Milly said pushing the microphone on him.

"But…" Lelouch stammered. "Damn…"

"Damn it, just say it!" Kallen yelled next to him. "Everyone is waiting for the announcement!"

Lelouch looked to the others for help, especially at Suzaku. Suzaku had a very guilty looking expression on his face and just gave a hand signal saying, 'sorry, can't help.' So Lelouch looked to C.C. who just shrugged her shoulders. Apparently she wants him to do it too. Shirley was helping the swim club set up, though not that he feels comfortable seeing her right now and Nina is definitely no help as she pretty much sides with Milly on everything. Rivalz loves Milly so he's on her side though albeit guilty because of his friendship with Lelouch.

Lelouch sighed, took the microphone and walked to the balcony of the club house. The others followed him, and putting the visors of their hats on. It's not that Lelouch mined the line he had to say, but the gesture while he did it. He put the microphone up to the area where his mouth and positioned his left hand under the cape wrapped around his body. "I, Zero will now commence the 10th annual summer festival!" As he finished saying his line, he threw his arms out, spreading the cape he was wearing. A nice breeze just so happened to blow his way so the cape fluttered.

Everyone down on the ground cheered as balloons and various color confetti sprayed into the air. Lelouch turned around and face the others, the mask hiding his embarrassment.

Several hours ago…

"Your hero alias will be Zero!" Milly declared as Lelouch stepped out of the changing area set aside in the Student Council room.

"And where did you get that name from?" Lelouch asked with a sigh.

"C.C." Milly said simply.

Lelouch looked over at the green haired girl, who was lying on the couch eating pizza.

"I had thought of it myself," C.C. said examining him. "It gives off a nice air of mystery right?"

"I don't care about that," Lelouch said.

"Oh you don't like it?" C.C. asked feigning hurt before recovering, "How about Egg face?"

"You're just enjoying this aren't you?" Lelouch asked.

"Oh yes," C.C. said, returning to her pizza.

It's finally the day of the festival and summer vacation will begin right afterwards. Through much preparation, everyone is now ready more or less. As the student council, they're obligated to organize the events and act as sort of like the police. Lelouch doesn't really understand why he has to dress the way he has to, the cape would just hinder his running if anything happens. When he pointed that out, Milly had told him he wouldn't need to worry about security duty to which Kallen added, "Like you can chase anyone down to begin with, with your lack of stamina."

So Lelouch's duty during the festival is to pretty much walk around and play his role. His role includes entertaining little kids, taking pictures with the festival goers, and just generally be "cool".

Present time…

They had split up into teams of two for patrol duty, except Lelouch who would be in a team of three. Rivalz was Suzaku's partner even though he offered to be Milly's partner but Milly instead chose Nina to be her partner. Lelouch or Zero as he will be known today was to be with C.C. and Kallen since Shirley won't be joining them until later. "I'm to compensate for your weak physical stamina," Kallen teased.

The three groups set out to patrol different areas of the festival. Lelouch felt quite ridiculous walking around in that costume, not to mention hot. The cape is stifling in the July heat and breathing is very restricted with that mask on.

"So Zero, what are going to do over summer?" C.C. asked lifting up her visor.

"I don't know, I think my mom really wants us to go vacationing in the U.S." Lelouch answered.

"Eh, vacationing in the states?" Kallen asked. "You bourgeois are so lucky. I barely travel within the country."

"Speaking of which," C.C. said. "How did you get into Ashford? I mean the tuition isn't cheap and you don't seem that rich Kallen."

"I'm here on a scholarship," Kallen answered with a hint of offense. "IF you look hard enough, there are actually quite a few students here who aren't rich."

"What kind?" C.C. asked.

"Academic and Lacrosse scholarship," Kallen answered. "I was actually quite surprised they offered it to me."

"Did you play Lacrosse at your old school?" C.C. asked.

"I've been playing my whole life," Kallen said proudly. "My brother taught me how when I was little."

"That's where her violent nature comes from, Lacrosse." Lelouch said sarcastically.

"Do you want me to stick that violent nature up your ass?" Kallen threatened.

"Whatever, _Guren_" Lelouch said putting special emphasis on the last word.

"Where you hear that?" Kallen said her voice rising and they could see a slight blush beneath her visor.

"Oh come on, everyone's heard of the famous Guren of the female lacrosse team." Lelouch teased.

"Guren?" C.C. asked.

"That's her nickname on the team," Lelouch informed her. "I don't really know when, where, and whom started it but it's caught on." Lelouch said.

"You're not allowed to call me Guren," Kallen said annoyed.

"It's not like it means anything bad, _crimson lotus._" Lelouch said, this time in English.

"If you call me Guren or any variation of that one more time, you'll find my fist through that mask of yours." Kallen threatened.

"Oh I thought you enjoy that nickname?" Lelouch asked slyly.

"Not from you." Kallen said.

The festival so far has been relatively peaceful, nothing big enough that the student council had to step in to intervene. They saw none of the clubs really followed Milly's theme at all so Lelouch just feels even more foolish wearing the costume. When they passed the chess club booth, they saw a queue of girls in front. Lelouch never did get the chance to ask Gino what he planned for the festival and he wasn't the one to process their application either. Lelouch didn't have the chance to go and see what the girls are crowding around for because they suddenly heard a shout.

"Thief!!" a woman yelled.

The three of them looked over in the direction of the yell and saw a hooded figure running through crowd, knocking people aside unceremoniously. They gave chase immediately. Kallen was in the lead followed closely by C.C. while the gap between her Lelouch slowly widen.

"Damn it…" Lelouch muttered as his breath caught in his throat.

Lelouch slowed down to a jog, enough to keep them in sight but slow enough for him to catch his breath. The thief had turned around a corner to another section of the festival. Lelouch turned around the corner just in time to see someone cloths-line the thief down.

When Lelouch caught up to them, Kallen was already had the thief on his stomach and had grabbed rope from somewhere and began tying the hands together. C.C. stood over the thief in what Lelouch guessed was trying to look intimidating. The person who had knocked the thief down was massaging his right arm. He looked around the same age as them, black hair and wears a pair of thin framed glasses and he was wearing the uniform of another school.

"Shame on you," Kallen scolded the thief as she finished tying his hands together. "Who tries to steal a purse at a school festival?"

Lelouch saw that she had thrown off her visor somewhere along the way. The girls seemed to have not noticed the guy standing there so Lelouch went up to him.

"Thank you for your assistance," Lelouch said.

"Ah no problem," the other young man said surprised when Lelouch spoke to him.

Kallen stood up and was holding the thief like how a cop would one. "Thanks," Kallen to the guy. "Hope you didn't get hurt."

"No I'm fine," he said.

"It seemed you hit this guy pretty hard," Kallen laughed. "Come with me, I'll get you some ice for your arm."

The young man followed and as they walked away, Lelouch saw that he seemed to have struck up a conversation with Kallen already.

"What kind of super hero are you? Can't even catch a thief," C.C. said in a seemingly calm voice, but Lelouch knew she was teasing.

"A superhero doesn't need to step into something so trivial," Lelouch said dramatically playing along. "That's why we have subordinates."

Moments later, the other members of the student council had showed up. C.C. went to return the purse to the women as Milly went up to the school to where Kallen had led the thief, probably to one of the teachers.

"So this whole superhero get-up wasn't in vain then," Rivalz said cheerfully.

"But it wasn't even Zero who caught the guy anyways," Suzaku laughed.

"Like I told C.C." Lelouch said dramatically. "Catching petty criminals should be a subordinate's job."

"Whatever, just admit you're weak physically." Suzaku said.

Lelouch chuckled.

"So who was the other guy with Kallen?" Rivalz asked.

"He knocked the thief down for us," Lelouch said, "And still remained quite calm about it."

Lelouch announced to the gathering crowd that everything has been taken care of and they should return to what they were doing. As the crowd dispersed, a girl with very light brown hair wearing the black uniform and hat ran up to them.

"Sorry, what'd I miss?" she asked.

"Ah Shirley! You just missed the great Zero catching his first criminal." Rivalz joked.

"Wow, you did?" Shirley turned to Lelouch.

"I was kidding," Rivalz said. "He was barely keeping up with the chase. It was Kallen and some random passerby that caught the guy."

"Lulu, you need to work out." Shirley said.

"Anyways, you're done with your swim club stuff?" Lelouch said remembering what she was doing before. For once he's glad that he's wearing the mask, as it hid the blush on his face. Every time he sees Shirley, the image of her in a coconut bikini top comes to mind.

"Yeah, the other girls can take care of it." Shirley said.

"Well let's get back to patrol duty," Rivalz said pulling his visor down.

"All you've been doing were playing games and eating," Suzaku said.

"Well, Milly didn't exactly give us breaks." Rivalz complained.

"Whatever let's go," Suzaku beckoned Rivalz. "See you later Le…Zero."

"Nina, come with us." Rivalz said to the shy girl.

"Eh but…" she began.

"We'll find Milly along the way," Rivalz said and took Nina's arm.

Shirley is alone with Lelouch now. She glanced up at him, but his face was completely hidden by the mask. He hasn't mentioned that day at the pool at all and she somehow hoped he had forgotten about it but who would forget such a sight?

Lelouch glanced down at Shirley every now and then; every time he looked at her he would imagine her in that outfit again. C.C. still had not returned for some reason and they just stood there in silence.

"Lulu, we should walk around, I mean we are suppose to be patrolling the place." Shirley said.

"Don't you think we should wait for C.C.?" Lelouch asked.

"I'm sure she'll find us soon enough." Shirley said and grabbed Lelouch's arm.

They walked on a bit in silence, neither of them knowing what to say to each other. It still seems to be rather awkward between them. Sounds of joy and laughter surrounded them but they don't seem to be feeling happy at the moment.

Shirley's brain was scrambling for something to say. She wants to fix whatever damage that outfit might have caused when Lelouch saw it but she doesn't know what to say. All that's in her head right now is the wanting to find out how Lelouch feels about her. Maybe he's feeling awkward because he actually likes her and didn't know what to make of her wearing such an explicit outfit in front of him? Or he liked her before and now thinks she's some kind of bimbo because of that outfit? Or he never liked her before and the incident just reinforced his dislike? Did he think she was annoying? Why had she agreed to wear that thing? It's the fact that she couldn't stand wearing it that she got out of helping the swim club early.

Lelouch walked alongside her in silence. He couldn't think of what to say to her, the image of her in that coconut bikini top still firmly implanted in his mind. Why would she suddenly wear in front of him? It can't be as simple as asking for opinions on the outfit right? If that's the case, then any of the other swim club girls can do it. But it's not like that's any better. Shirley interrupted his train of thought as he was trying to figure out her motive.

"Lulu…can I ask you something," Shirley said timidly.

"Hm what?" Lelouch said.

"What do you…" she began "I mean…how do you…um…do you have anyone you care about?" finally phrasing her question.

"Yeah of course," Lelouch answered.

"Eh really, who?" Shirley asked a bit surprised.

"My mother and Nunnally of course, and I guess Euphie too." Lelouch said.

"EH?!?" Shirley exclaimed before she realized what he meant. "Oh I didn't mean family members."

"Then what do you mean?" Lelouch asked confused.

"I meant…do you have someone special you care about? Like a girl," Shirley said before adding, "outside of your family."

"Hm…" Lelouch hummed, still a bit confused.

'Oh come on, how can anyone be so dense!' Shirley thought angrily. "I meant do you have girl you like, romantically?"

The mask couldn't hide his surprise as he jumped back a bit. Why would she suddenly ask that?

"So?" Shirley urged.

Lelouch thought about it and was surprised to see a certain green haired young women appearing in his mind. He shook his head to get her out, 'it's probably because you've been around so much since she came.' He thought. Shirley was looking at him weirdly because he actually shook his head frantically. "No one," he answered.

"Oh….really," Shirley said sounding disappointed.

"Why you ask?" Lelouch said.

"Nothing…" Shirley said and walked ahead of him.

Then it finally struck him. Why Shirley wore that, why she seemed so clingy the past few days and why she had asked that. He was usually good at reading people's thoughts but how could he have not guessed that. He stared at the back of Shirley's head. They had walked aimlessly and had arrived at a fairly remote part where the festivities didn't reach. Lelouch stopped walking and pressed the switch that made the back of his mask slide up so he could take it off. Shirley realized Lelouch was no longer walking, stopped and turned around too.

Lelouch looked at Shirley's disappointed gaze, and the only thing he could say to her came out. "Sorry…"

Shirley didn't let any emotion escape but just smiled, "it's okay…why are you apologizing?"

Lelouch didn't say anything.

"I'm going to look for the president," Shirley said still smiling that fake smile. "I think I need to go back to help the swim club." And she ran past him.

Lelouch thought he saw a single tear coming from the corner of her eyes as she ran past him. He didn't turn around to look at her. He stayed rooted to the spot until he could no longer hear her footsteps, a feeling of guilt seeping in. So all this time that's how she felt about him and he didn't notice. But what if he had noticed sooner? Would it have made a difference? He never really saw her as anything more then a friend. He feels like he should chase after her but what would he do? Confess his non-existent feelings? That'd just be unfair to her. What if this had been a different situation? What then? What would his relationship be like with Shirley now? Would they still be able to be friends at least? All these thoughts ran through his head as he stood there, not knowing whether he'd been standing for a minute, five minutes, or an hour. He stood there until another voice brought him out of his reverie.

"Lelouch," the voice said calmly.

He turned around to see C.C. standing there. He didn't say anything.

"I was looking all over for you," C.C. said.

"Ah…" Lelouch said remembering what's going on. "Sorry…"

"What happened?" C.C. asked.

"Nothing…" Lelouch said.

"I saw Shirley running back up to the school crying," C.C. said.

"Oh…" Lelouch said.

"Did something happen between you and her?" C.C. asked.

"Why would you assume that it's my fault?" Lelouch asked.

"Because I'm a girl and I know when another girl is hurt," C.C. said. "Plus Shirley's been pretty obvious lately."

"Really huh? So did all of you notice?" Lelouch asked.

"You didn't?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch shook his head.

"So you were caught off-guard," C.C. replied. "Now tell me what happened."

Lelouch then recounted what happen to C.C. including everything that was said. He didn't bother to put his mask back on.

_A/N: Anyone else think Zero's mask looks like an egg? And from what I heard of lacrosse, it does seem like a pretty violent game. Maybe it was just those people that I've talked too, I don't know._

_Here's a longer then usual chapter to make up for my absence? Though it isn't that long I guess. Lelouch's love rival will appear after their summer break…in maybe two chapters? And sorry for all the typos in the previous chapters, I just don't feel like re-reading it after I write it._

_College is very tiring by the way…_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Ah I miss writing, well I wrote in my English class too but it wasn't writing what I enjoyed. It's been what like two weeks since my last update? I even momentarily forgot what happens next in the story…so here's a extra long chapter since I probably can't update for a while as well. *sad*_

**Disclaimer: the obligatory "I do not own Code Geass"**

**Chapter 10:**

The school festival had ended a few days ago, summer vacation just started and Lelouch is throwing cloths into his suitcase. He had been unsure of whether to go with his family to vacation in America but his mother and sister had managed to convince him by guilt tripping. _"You haven't seen your brothers and sisters in years, I'm sure they miss you. And besides, Nunnally needs her brother to protect her from big scary American men." _ _All the while, Nunnaly was pouting._

He could've told Sayoko to pack for him like his mother and sisters who had gone shopping, but this gives him time to think. True, he hadn't seen his half brothers and sisters for a while, but it wasn't as if he wanted to see them. Although he had their phone numbers and email, he never bothered to contact them either and they never bothered to contact him. It was a 'you don't bother me, I don't bother you' kind of relationship.

As he thought about his half siblings, Lelouch decided he couldn't stand them alone. So he grabbed his cell phone from his desk and dialed Suzaku's number.

"Hello," Suzaku's voice came through.

"Suzaku, get your dad's credit card and buy yourself a plane ticket to America. I don't want to deal with my half siblings alone." Lelouch said.

Suzaku laughed on the other line. "Sorry Lelouch, my cousin from Kyoto suddenly decided to come and stay for the summer."

"Kaguya?" Lelouch asked.

"That's the one," Suzaku replied and laughed. "But I should tell her not to come since you won't be in town anyways."

"Whatever," Lelouch sighed. Suzaku's cousin, Kaguya was two years younger then them but had the biggest crush on Lelouch, ever since they met as kids. Even though Lelouch parried her affections every time, it hasn't stopped her from trying to ask him out every time they met.

"Yeah sorry," Suzaku said again. "Is Euphie going with you guys too?"

"Yeah, it was kind of her idea to begin with." Lelouch said.

"That's a shame," Suzaku said, disappointed.

"Then why don't you just come with us? So you won't have to spend a Euphie-less summer." Lelouch teased.

"Shut up," Suzaku said quickly. "Anyways, have fun in America, call back anytime if you need."

"Yeah, talk to you later then," Lelouch said.

Lelouch flipped his phone shut and got back to packing. But his phone rang again before he made much progress. He walked back to his desk and looked at the caller ID, it was C.C. Wondering if she was lost somewhere again, and Lelouch flipped his phone open.

"What is it?" Lelouch answered.

"No hello?" C.C. replied.

"Ok, hello" Lelouch said. Arguing with her would lead nowhere.

"Heard you've decided to go vacation in America," C.C. said.

"Yeah," Lelouch said nonchalantly.

"When are you leaving?" C.C. asked.

"Tomorrow," Lelouch replied.

"Is that all you have to say?" C.C. asked.

"What?" Lelouch asked confused.

"Your responses are so boring," C.C. said.

"I'm answering your questions, aren't I?" Lelouch said.

"Whatever," C.C. said. "Anyways, want to hang out since you're leaving tomorrow?"

"You don't even consider the fact that I might be busy packing?" Lelouch asked playfully.

"That's what servants are for," C.C. replied.

Lelouch laughed. "I'm almost done packing anyways, so where do you want to go?"

"Hm, come pick me up at Shinjuku station." C.C. said.

"Ok, be there in a bit." Lelouch said and hung up.

He looked at his half filled suitcase on the bed. Maybe he should just ask Sayoko to do it. Right now she shouldn't be doing much except cleaning and the house is pretty clean as it is. Lelouch changed into dark blue jeans and a black shirt and grabbed his brown jacket. After checking if he had everything, he went downstairs.

"Sayoko, can you help me finish packing? I'm going out," Lelouch said when he met the maid at the bottom of the stairs.

"Of course Lelouch-sama," Sayoko said obediently. "Is there anything special I should pay attention to? Like any special items you want to pack?"

"No, just organized what I already took out and pack a few more essentials." Lelouch said.

Sayoko bowed as he opened the door and walked out into the bright July sun. The jacket wasn't necessary but then it can rain very unexpectedly in Japan during this time. It may be bright and sunny now but next thing you know, it'll be pouring. At the station, he bought his ticket and waited on the platform. Lelouch tried to ignore it but he can feel the stares of a group of giggling girls behind him to his left. Sometimes he curses his good looks, which apparently runs in the family. When the train came, he quickly lost himself amongst the crowd trying to get on.

He arrived at Shinjuku Station soon enough and started looking around for familiar neon green hair. Lelouch found her when he went into the area where the ticket selling machines were, standing by the entrance. She had her hair down and was wearing a white blouse with the top few buttons undone, a black corset around her waist and a white dress that went down to her knees. Over her dress and under her blouse, she had what looked like a green cloth and over the green cloth was a red plaid cloth, all of which seemed to be held secure by the corset. A brown purse hung across her shoulders.

"Been waiting long?" Lelouch asked as he walked up to her.  
"Yes, how dare you make a girl wait," C.C. answered looking away. She let out her restrained giggles when she noticed Lelouch's shocked expression. "I'm just kidding."

Lelouch sighed, "Ok so where do you want to go?"

"What's with the sigh? It's like you don't want to be here." C.C. said as they climbed the stairs to the streets above.

"No, it's because you play too much." Lelouch said.

"Well I don't know about you, but being serious all the time is boring." C.C. said.

"But when we do lie or say something sarcastic, no one will notice." Lelouch smirked.

"Anyways, where should we go?" C.C. asked as she caught up.

"You're the one who asked me out," Lelouch said. "Shouldn't you have some idea of where you wanted to go?"

"Not really, because I just wanted to hang before you have to go." C.C. said.

"Then you could've just come to my house, my family isn't home. Or your apartment," Lelouch exclaimed.

"And what were we going to do there?" C.C. asked, before an expression of mock surprise took her face. "Lelouch, I didn't know you were that kind of guy, how bold."

It took a moment for Lelouch to understand her but when he did, he started blushing profusely. "That's not what I meant!" he yelled.

"But what else can a young man and young woman do, together, alone, in a house," C.C. said covering her face trying to look shy.

"My maid is in the house," Lelouch exclaimed.

"You get riled up too easily Lelouch," C.C. said dropping her shy façade. "I wouldn't have let you even if you wanted to."

"I don't…" Lelouch said looking away embarrassed.

"Oh, am I that unattractive?" C.C. said pouting.

"You're just playing with me aren't you?" Lelouch said bluntly.

"Hey, I was genuinely hurt by that," C.C. said, pout replaced with anger. "You just don't understand girls. I was hoping to spend the day with you but obviously I'm not attractive enough for the great Lelouch." And she began walking away.

'I may not understand girls, but I understand you.' Lelouch thought. "And I was going to take you that new pizza buffet that's opening today, guess I'll go enjoy all-you-can-eat pizza myself." And he began walking the opposite direction, a smirk on his face the whole time.

Moments later, C.C. ran up to him and grabbed his arm, holding him back. "Did you say all-you-can-eat?"

"Of course," Lelouch said hiding his smirk now.

"Ok I forgive you this time," C.C. said rather quickly. "So where is this place?"

Lelouch laughed inwardly to himself as the smirk graced his face again. Complete Victory. Rather then getting back on the crowded train, they decided to take a taxi instead, it's not like Lelouch doesn't have the money to pay for it. The taxi doors opened for them automatically and C.C. got in. The door closed automatically after Lelouch and he told the driver where to go before the driver even asked.

They talked about various things along the way, like what were their plans over summer break. Lelouch had known C.C. was also from the U.S. but apparently she was born in England. So in a sense, she's been around the world. Even though they knew each other for months, they never really knew each other's past.

The taxi arrived at the intersection and they got off to walk the rest of the way down the crowded sidewalk. Lelouch didn't take much notice but C.C. was holding his arm like when she grabbed him at first. They stopped in front of the place. It wasn't big but it wasn't small, obviously some small business. The sign on top said "Raguna Pizza" in fancy cursive.

They got a table inside as a waitress brought drinks. The inside was pretty cramped, tables that seat various numbers of people filled the room from two-person table to family sized six-person tables and booths with comfy slide in seats lined the wall. Various types of pizza lined the buffet table at the center along with a salad and bread sticks bar off towards the end. Lelouch could see that C.C. was already eyeing the line of pizza hungrily and he couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"You can go get some now," he told her.

She got up quickly and went to grab a plate at the right end of the table, behind the small line of people already getting their fill. Lelouch got up slowly and followed her, wondering how long they would stay here.

Despite the fact that she complained about the size and quality of the pizza, C.C. still wolf down the equivalent of three large pizzas. Lelouch could only stare awe struck by her appetite for this cheesy junk food. Lelouch had only managed to eat three slices and some salad but he ate slowly since he anticipated how long they would stay.

"How do you do that?" Lelouch asked stunned, as they left the restaurant.

"Do what?" C.C. asked licking her fingers trying to get the last dregs of cheese flavor out.

"Eat all that pizza," Lelouch said amazed. "Do you always eat that much?"

"Just pizza," C.C. said, wiping her fingers on some napkins she took.

"You're going to get a heart attack before the age of 30 at this rate," Lelouch sighed.

"Well so far I'm fine right?" C.C. said winking.

"Whoever you marry in the future better prepare for eating pizza everyday of the week," Lelouch said playfully.

"No, that means I would have to share." C.C. said.

"You're a completely different person when pizza is involved," Lelouch said.

"I guess," C.C. replied. "Hey look, is that Kallen?" she pointed across the street.

Lelouch looked at the direction she was pointing and sure enough, she saw the familiar fierce red head. Except this time, instead of looking mad most of the time she was smiling and to Lelouch, that was very un-Kallen like behavior. This is also the first time Lelouch ever saw her in everyday street clothes and she looked more feminine then he thought. Lelouch always thought that given the choice, Kallen wasn't likely to wear skirts or dresses. But here she was, wearing a short lavender strapless sundress with a white collar and a blue sweat sweatshirt over the dress that was pulled down so her shoulders were exposed. She seems to be waiting for someone and sure enough, they saw a guy with black hair and thin black rimmed glasses walk out of a store and went to her. The guy said something and they both laughed before walking down the street, away from Lelouch and C.C. Kallen didn't seem to have noticed them at all.

"That guy looks familiar," Lelouch commented.

"He was the one at the festival," C.C. said.

"The one who helped us catch the thief?" Lelouch asked.

"You were the one who talked to him and you don't remember?" C.C. asked.

"Didn't seem important enough to remember," Lelouch said. "Anyways, I wonder what they're doing."

"Isn't it obvious?" C.C. said.

"No, do tell." Lelouch said.

"God you're dense," C.C. sighed. "They're on a date."

"Oh," was all Lelouch could say.

"You really don't understand women at all do you?" C.C. asked.

"Never felt the need to," Lelouch said.

"Sometimes I wonder if you swing the other way," C.C. said as they walked the opposite direction.

"That I assure you I'm not," Lelouch said confidently.

"I hope so," C.C. said.

"So where do you want to go now?" Lelouch asked, ignoring that comment.

"How about a movie," C.C. said.

"Ok, which one?" Lelouch asked.

"We'll decide when we get there," C.C. said.

The movie theater wasn't far so the two of them took their time walking there. Lelouch conceded that it wasn't going to rain so he took off his brown jacket and held it over his shoulder. C.C. was staring at his chest.

"What?" Lelouch asked.

"Nothing, I'm just wondering why you're wearing such dark colors on a hot day like this," C.C. told him.

"I guess I just like dark colored clothes, everything in my closet is dark." Lelouch said. And it was true, whether he was conscious of it, all the clothes he ever bought were either black or dark blue or purple or some sort of dark shade of some color.

"Emo…" C.C. muttered.

"What?" Lelouch asked, not catching it.

"Nothing," C.C. said and walked ahead of him.

They arrived at the movie theater soon enough. You were supposed to buy the tickets days before you want to watch the movie so buying it on the spot cost more than usual. C.C. was about offer to pay for hers but Lelouch had already handed the cashier a 5000 yen note and was receiving his change. Lelouch handed her a ticket and saw her holding her wallet.

"Its fine, I paid." Lelouch chuckled as she took the ticket.

"I guess," she said putting her wallet back in her purse. "Guys are supposed to for everything when they take a girl out right."

"I'm being generous is all," Lelouch said as they went in.

"But I'm not as helpless as having the guy do everything for me," C.C. said.

So she paid for the snacks and drinks for both of them. Being the gentleman, Lelouch tried to pay for it instead but she won't have it and so he just accepted it. It turns out the movie C.C. wanted to see was some feudal era love drama. Lelouch was impartial to these movies; he's watched a few with his sister and her friends back when they were still too young to go out alone. It was about a girl who had her village destroyed by soldiers and she was picked up by a young fighter as she cried next to her dead parents. Then the rest of the story is pretty predictable. The young man teaches her how to fight and they go on adventures, and she falls in love with him, and oh no, it turns out the young man was a prince or something. Yeah, that kind of story…

They sat at the back since they bought their tickets on the spot and those were the only seats available. They didn't mind since sitting up front while watching a movie at the theaters will just give you a neck cramp. This allowed them to talk while they watch the movie without disturbing the other movie goers. Being in the back also gave a Lelouch a good view of everyone else in the room. As he scanned the room, he realized that it was comprised of entirely couples, all either holding hands, snuggling together or making out as a few were doing. Lelouch glanced over at C.C. whose attention was turned to the screen and saw that she had her left hand on the hand rest between them. Was he supposed to take it? Various thoughts raced through his mind until common sense took over. She wasn't that type of girl and he doesn't think of her like that…right?

The movie finished in about two hours and everyone got up to leave. Whether by bad timing or just luck, Lelouch and C.C. got stuck between the crowds of couples, all still holding each other.

"So where to now?" Lelouch asked, as they went back outside.

"You decide," C.C. replied.

They still had some time left. "Want to go the arcade?"

"Sure," C.C. said, "Didn't know you were a gamer."

"Well I didn't know you like those kinds of movies," Lelouch said.

They didn't stay long at the arcade. C.C. had managed to beat Lelouch at every game they played so by the end it, he felt pretty defeated. The sun was beginning to set so they decided to leave.

"You may be good at chess, but you suck at everything else." C.C. said.

"Shut up," Lelouch retorted.

They took the train back to Shinjuku and Lelouch walked her to her apartment. Night had completely fallen by the time they arrived. Lelouch walked her all way up to her door; he didn't know why he did it but felt like he should. C.C. opened the door but didn't go in, instead turned around.

"Today was fun," C.C. told him. "Have fun on your vacation." And before Lelouch can even react, C.C. had leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. She flashed him a small smile before going into her apartment and closing the door.

Lelouch just stood there stunned. What was all that about? He was about to knock on her door to ask but his phone vibrated. It was a text message from Nunnally asking where he is and to come home. He sighed and turned to leave.

As he got back on the street below, a thought struck him. "Wait, was today a date?" He looked back up at the building and thought he saw a wave of neon green hair disappear from a window.

_AN: So nothing much this chapter except some Lelouch and C.C. fluff._

_C.C.'s outfit is the one she wore at the end of R2 when she was on the wagon, plus a purse._

_And if you're confused about Kallen's outfit, it's the one she wore when she found Lelouch about to use Refrain and then tries to kiss her, with I guess slight modifications. _

_Movie tickets in Japan are actually quite expensive…I guess it'll depend on the place but when I was in Japan; the place I went charged 1,400 yen ($14) for general._

_5000 yen = around $50_

_And movie was actually based on a song that I was listening to when I wrote that part._


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: College…essays…events…club activities…readings…exams…research paper…many, many things going on…here is my reprieve. Oh and look on my profile for updates on progress and things like that because that's how I'll keep you guys informed._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass because this would not have been a fanfic if I did.**

**Chapter 11**

Lelouch stared out into the rolling clouds through the small airplane window, his legs propped comfortably across from him under the lacquered wooden table with a lamp bolted on it. The larger then normal airline TV screen in front of him was turned to some news report that he wasn't paying attention to. The first class seating of this plane was, to describe it in one word, extravagant. Each passenger was practically given their own seats and these seats were walled off from others with a thin wall. It even had a sliding door on the side of the aisle if someone wants complete privacy. Charles and Marianne sat in the middle column where two cubicle seats were place next to each other (with a raise-able wall between the seats), Nunnally and Euphemia likewise. That means Lelouch would've been stuck with Schneizel but he had asked his mother to get him a single seat. So Lelouch sat behind Schneizel, and across the aisle from his seat were Nunnally and Euphemia. Schneizel's personal assistant, Kanon had gone back a few days early.

As Lelouch stared, he couldn't help but dread this trip. Sure he was born in the States but he had spent most of his life in Japan. He thought about seeing his half siblings again and shuddered. Why would his mother think he would enjoy seeing them again? Or that they would miss him? Hasn't it been apparent since childhood that he never got along with them?

A vacation is something to be enjoyed right? Oh well, Lelouch would have to bear with it since Nunnally had wanted to come as well. However, this could've been more enjoyable if Suzaku or even C.C. had come along. He stopped his train of thoughts when C.C. came up as a possible candidate.

'I think I've been spending too much time with her,' Lelouch thought, sighing.

The plane ride felt short because of the dread Lelouch was feeling. The ride was a little over 13 hours long but when the tires made contact with the runway of San Francisco International, Lelouch felt like it was brining him towards his execution. That was over dramatized but those were only words Lelouch could think of to describe the feeling in his stomach.

After they had grabbed their luggage from the baggage claim, they were met by Kanon Maldini. Lelouch looked over at his half brother.

"You know, I think there's a very clear line between personal assistant and personal slave." Lelouch said mockingly.

"Whatever are you talking about Lelouch?" Schneizel asked calmly. "I think it's quite appropriate for our host to come pick us up."

"Host?" Lelouch asked.

"Ah, no one told you?" Euphemia said surprised. "The Maldinis invited us to stay at their villa in the Napa Valley."

"Apparently I wasn't informed then," Lelouch said.

"Cornelia, Clovis, and Odysseus have already arrived," Kanon informed them.

"What about Guinevere?" Charles asked.

"It seems she went off with some friends to Long Beach," Schneizel said.

It always surprised Lelouch how that man remembers the name of his many children, or cared enough to inquire about them. They went out to the front of the airport where Kanon had a gleaming white SUV stretch limo waiting for them. The big burly chauffeur took care of their luggage while Kanon hled the door open for them.

"Kanon, your family seems pretty well off, why do you work Schneizel?" Lelouch asked nonchalantly as the chauffeur climbed into the driver's seat up front and started weaving his way out of the airport. This had bothered him when he was told that Kanon's family has a villa. If they own a villa, they were definitely rich.

"Schneizel is my mentor in return for my services. Having the pleasure of learning how to manage a business from the son of an international businessman is quite an honor." Kanon said modestly.

"And also our families might be future business now." Schneizel informed them. "Lelouch, I heard you're not interested in the family business so I'm not surprised you don't know."

'How tactless…' Lelouch thought. Everyone knows that of course but it's another thing to say it aloud.

"Kanon's family owns a decent sized grape farm here in California; I thought they'd be of great assistance in our new venture into the wine business." Schneizel said. "Don't you agree, Father?"

"Hm, I have yet to inspect the quality of their grapes." Charles said.

"Don't worry; the villa we'll be staying at is where the grapes are grown." Kanon said. "But I assure you, our grapes are of the highest quality."

"We'll see about that…" Charles said.

"I will vouch for them also," Schneizel said.

So this was a business trip in disguise. Lelouch is not exactly surprised at this bit of information but felt that this trip was even more useless. The villa wasn't that far away, an hour or so drive at most. When they arrived, the door was opened for them by a butler who had apparently been waiting for them. Lelouch winced at the intense California summer heat. In Japan it was a wet heat with its humidity but here, it was just hot.

The chauffeur was already unloading their luggage and bringing it in through a side door so Lelouch and his family walked to the path to front door, following the butler. Lelouch could see the vineyards in the distance as they got closer to the villa. They were greeted at the opened front doors by a brown haired middle aged man and a blond middle aged woman, whom Lelouch assumed its Kanon's parents.

"Ah Mr. Lamperouge, it's nice to finally meet you in person." The middle aged man said.

"Mrs. Lamperouge, come in and have some tea." The middle aged woman said.

'And there goes the formality…' Lelouch thought. 'I hate this…'

Lelouch decided to just ignore their pointless small talk as they he followed them inside. All this formality was exactly why he hated his family life. He stayed silent until he was allowed to run off, listening to bits of their conversation. Something about wine…daughter…grapes…marriage…business…you name it. He didn't even hear the question Mr. Maldini asked. So he gave a very generic response that works well with almost anything.

"Sounds lovely," Lelouch said feigning interest.

"Great!" Kanon's father said. "Karin, come out and meet our guests."

From the stairs, a girl with Kanon's hair color and sapphire eyes walked down. Her hair seemed to be curled at the ends, similar to Euphemia's while the top puffed out, similar to Milly's. She was wearing a light purple strapless dress. She came up and stood next to her father.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Karin Maldini." The girl said.

Lelouch became a little confused for a moment at the sudden appearance of the girl because he was spacing out, but grasping the situation, he returned his face back its stoic expression.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lamperouge, why don't we talk outside in the patio, the view is beautiful there." Kanon's father said gesturing towards the back of the villa. "We'll leave the youngsters alone for now."

The adults, including Schneizel and Kanon left the four teenagers in the foyer of the large house. As soon they were out of sight, Karin, turned to the three Lamperouge teens, "You three must be, Euphemia, Nunnally, and _Lelouch_," nodding to each in turn and putting extra emphasis on Lelouch's name.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Karin," Nunnally said extending a hand towards the Maldini girl.

"Oh no, the pleasures all mine," Karin said, taking her hand and shaking it. Her eyes were still on Lelouch though.

"Do you know where my sister Cornelia is?" Euphie asked eagerly.

"Ah, they should be returning from their trip to town soon. Your siblings." Karin said. "Why don't you go to the garage area to wait for her?"

"Alright!" Euphie said excitedly. "Come on Nunnally."

The two girls went off through a door to the side of the foyer. Lelouch was just about to follow them when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked down to see the Karin girl restraining him. He shot her glare but that didn't seem to faze her.

"Why don't I give you a personal tour of the villa?" Karin asked, still holding on Lelouch's arm.

"Maybe later," Lelouch said coldly and tried to go to where Euphie and Nunnally would be, but he was stopped once again.

"No, I'd be a bad host if I don't show you around," Karin said sweetly, but still sounded mature.

"I don't mind," Lelouch said, again displaying no emotion. And again, he was pulled back just as he was to leave.

"No, I insist. Daddy would be quite upset when he finds out that I haven't given you a proper tour of the house." Karin said.

Lelouch didn't say anything this time, and instead just tried to leave again. But the girl was still holding him back. "Will you please let go?" he snapped at her. To hell with mannerisms.

"I'll let go if you agree to the tour," Karin said sweetly.

"Fine…" Lelouch said exasperatedly.

Karin let go of Lelouch's arm but remained uncomfortably close. She first took him to the living room where four large sofas were around several glass coffee tables. The sofas faced and surrounded the wall where a large 56" plasma TV was installed. On either side of the TV were two large tower speakers and underneath it, was a glass cabinet with various types of players. Next to the cabinet was a shelf with Various DVDs, Blu-Ray, and even VHS movies. She pointed excitedly to glass display case full of gold ornaments and dragged Lelouch over to look at them in detail.

After the living room, they went into the dining room where a long oval lacquered cherry wood table was placed, with matching chairs. From there, they stepped into the large kitchen with its large oven and stove, two microwaves, a large refrigerator, marble counters, and beautifully crafted oak cabinets.

The two went back into the living room to go to downstairs living area. Along with the large living room, dining room, and kitchen, the first floor also included four bedrooms, one of them a master bedroom. Two large bathrooms were also in the living area.

Karin then dragged Lelouch upstairs where it's comprised of six bedrooms, one of a master bedroom as well. Apparently, Lelouch's parents will sleep in the upstairs master bedroom. Two more large bathrooms were also upstairs, each with three sinks. Lelouch had not paid attention until now but as he went over the number of rooms in his head, he realized there wouldn't be enough rooms.

"There aren't enough rooms for all of us," Lelouch said, saying something for the first since the tour started.

"Oh yeah, I'll be sleeping with you in your room." She said casually.

"WHAT!?" Lelouch yelled in surprise.

"Just kidding," Karin laughed. "Your brothers Odysseus and Clovis agreed to share a room and your little sisters would have to share a room too. I'm sure they won't mind, they seem so nice."

"I see…" Lelouch said recovering from his shock.

"We've never had this much guests before so it's a tight fit." Karin said apologetically.

"It's fine," Lelouch said.

"Let's go check out the wine cellar," Karin said pulling Lelouch back downstairs.

They came back to the first floor stopped at a plain wooden door. She punched in a code on the keypad and door clicked. She pulled the door open and turned to Lelouch. "My dad's crazy about his wine." She explained.

They walked down the stairs to a large basement with shelves and shelves of wine. On one side, Lelouch could see three giant barrels with what can only be wine as well. "So your family's already in the wine business." Lelouch said.

"Yes, but it's not very big." Karin said.

"Still impressive," Lelouch said, and then just realized something. "Your Japanese is also pretty good." He hadn't really paid attention, maybe it's because he's lived around the Japanese all his life but this American girl had been speaking to him in Japanese the whole time.

"I've been studying," she said smiled. "I am in AP Japanese right now in high school."

"That's very good," Lelouch said.

"Thanks, well let's join the others." Karin said wrapping her arms around Lelouch's arm again. "I think your siblings are back by now."

They headed back upstairs and she closed the door to the wine cellar. They headed around back, toward a sliding glass door leading to a sun-baked patio. Lelouch could see Odysseus, Clovis, and Cornelia had indeed returned and Euphemia and Nunnally were with them as they listened to the adults' conversations. She opened the sliding glass door with hand and led him outside.

His oldest half brother, Odysseus was the first to notice them. "Ah Lelouch, I've missed you all these years little brother." He said, giving Lelouch a tight hug.

'Get your hands off me…' Lelouch thought. Out of all his brothers, Odysseus would be the buffoon. His words were sincere but he trusts people too easily and he's too indecisive.

"I see and you and Karin are already getting along," Odysseus said noticing that Karin was still holding Lelouch's arm. "That's good, since she is your fiancée now." Odysseus said smiling.

It took a moment for Lelouch to register what Odysseus had just said but when he did, "SHE'S MY WHAT!?"

_A/N: in a previous chapter, I said Kanon's hair was light brown, but as I look at a picture of him now it doesn't look light brown. In fact, I can't tell what color it's supposed to be so for the sake of consistency, it will stay light brown. As for the description of the first class cabin, I googled a picture and found it and it's just what I think it is…I think there are many different kinds._

_Karin Maldini is my OC. I totally wanted to have her try to seduce Lelouch while they were in his room or wine cellar, but I refrained. _


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: It has been over a month since the last update, that's by far the longest wait so far. Hope you guys aren't too mad but real life calls. I'm technically procrastinating on the two papers I have to write. Yeah I'm totally ignoring the effects of jet-lag in this chapter._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 12:**

"SHE'S MY WHAT!?" Lelouch yelled in surprise.

"Ah, Father and Schneizel haven't told you?" Odysseus asked, taken aback by Lelouch's sudden outburst.

"Knew there was something I forgot to mention," Schneizel commented nonchalently from his seat behind Odysseus, popping a grape into his mouth.

"Kaa-san, did you know about this?" Lelouch turned to Marianne.

"Yes," Marianne said guiltily. "But your father asked me to keep it a secret."

"Nii-sama is getting married?" Nunnally asked not bothering to hide the joy in her voice.

"Wait, no! I'm not!" Lelouch tried to correct her.

"Lelouch!" Charles exclaimed, saying something for the first time since this conversation started. "We'll finish this discussion later. Perhaps you should spend a little time with your fiancé." Charles finished with a smirk.

"From your son's reaction, he doesn't seem very happy about this arrangement." Mr. Maldini said to Charles.

"Well it was my fault for forgetting to tell him," Schneizel said. "Hearing such news must be shocking but I'm sure with time, Lelouch will accept it."

"Well then Karin, why don't you take Lelouch out to town for today? Napa isn't the big and bustling city of Tokyo but it has its own persona." Mrs. Maldini said sweetly. "And don't worry about coming home for dinner."

Kanon called a driver. His little sisters, who he thought would help him, did nothing but look dumbfounded. Nunnally and Euphie were still just as shocked as Lelouch was. Lelouch thought about refusing the offer but he really didn't know what that would accomplish except embarrass his father in front of their hosts. As much as he wanted to do that, Lelouch did not want to have to sit through the discomfort. This could be an opportunity to clear things up with this Karin girl as well so he opted to play along.

Back at the villa, everyone except the Lamperouge sisters had gone out for a walk around the fields. This left the Lamperouge sisters alone at the villa to freely discuss about the earlier events.

"Cornelia nee-sama, did you know about the engagement?" Euphie asked, finally letting her concerns out.

"Yes," Cornelia said, turning to her beloved sister.

"And you agree with it?" Euphie asked.

"Not really but there are things beyond our control. There's nothing we can do." Cornelia said, her expression suddenly becoming downcast. "I care about Lelouch's happiness too but this can't be helped."

"But Lelouch is being forced to marry someone he barely knows," Euphie said sadly.

"It's not like he has to get married immediately. They're both still in high school. And besides, Karin is not as bad as you may think she is."

"It's not about whether she's a good person or not. Nunnally, as Lelouch's full blooded sister, what do you think?"

"Um…well, I don't agree with forcing nii-sama into something he doesn't want to do but I'm also actually kind of happy for nii-sama." Nunnally said.

"So you agree with this too!" Euphie whined.

"It's nice to see nii-sama with a girl. He's always been doting on me since I was little, never thinking about himself. And Karin seems nice enough."

"But what about C.C.-san?" Euphie asked.

"Who?" Cornelia asked, raising an eyebrow towards Euphie.

"Oh yeah," Nunnally said as if remembering something important, "but when I asked Nemo about her, she said that C.C. and nii-sama aren't together or anything."

"Well…they've been spending a lot of time together recently." Euphie said. And noticing Cornelia's confused look, "she's this really beautiful green haired girl that goes to school with Lelouch in Japan."

"Eh, so Lelouch has a love interest?" Cornelia wondered aloud.

'It's not a business trip, but a stupid marriage thing.' Lelouch thought to himself. He had never expected his mother to allow such an arrangement but she did, and didn't even tell him about it. He sort of understood why, if they had told him he would never have come along with them. But still, his parents had arranged his marriage without his knowledge. Lelouch was not going to accept that. Who practices arranged marriages nowadays anyways?

Karin had decided to give Lelouch a tour of the Napa Valley and would always interrupt him before he could ask her about the arranged engagement. She took him all over the city, from the Opera House to the Safari West wildlife sanctuary. Lelouch was not interested in any of that. Karin had even forced Lelouch to play a game of golf with her. They ended the tour at Yountville for dinner at Cantinetta Piero.

"Napa Valley is known for its wines so there really isn't much to do for a couple of teenagers." Karin said cheerfully as they sat down at a table. "But what do you think?"

"I don't care," Lelouch sighed. He had given up on trying to ask her about the arranged marriage and just wanted to go back and sleep.

"You're really against this idea of us getting married huh?" Karin asked, the cheerfulness gone and replaced with seriousness.

Lelouch looked at her in surprise, after a whole day of avoiding the subject she brought it up herself. "Of course I am," Lelouch exclaimed. "And why aren't you?"

Karin had a look of contemplation on her face before answering. "This hasn't sunk in for you yet, that's all."

"You didn't answer my question."

"They said you were smart Lelouch," Karin commented as their drinks arrived. "Did you really think you have the freedom to live your life the way you want to?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Hm," Karin hummed, thinking back to a month or so ago.

_Flashback_

Summer vacation had just started and Karin practically skipped home after hanging out with her friends when school ended. No more would she have to deal with grumpy teachers and homework but just be able to relax and have fun. Her family would be going to the villa in Napa valley and she wanted to invite her friends to go with her. They've been to the villa before so Karin was pretty sure her family wouldn't mind them coming again, besides Napa was pretty boring when you can't legally drink wine.

"Daddy, where are you?" Karin sang into the house.

"Karin, manners!" her mother said coming to greet her. "We have a guest."

"Sorry," Karin said apologetically. "I'll go wait upstairs then."

"No, no, we need to talk to you too so come on." Her mother beckoned her towards the living room.

When Karin walked into the living room, she saw her father, brother and a handsome blond gentleman whom she recognized as Schneizel. Her father was sitting in an armchair while Kanon and Schneizel sat on one of the sofas. Her mother signaled her to sit on the sofa opposite the two young men and took the seat next to her.

"Hello Karin, how was your last day of school?" Schneizel asked politely.

"Fine," Karin answered timidly. Schneizel had an intimidating aura about him that Karin had never grown accustomed to like her brother. Karin turned to her father. "So daddy, mommy said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Right Karin," her father began. "Well there's no easy way to say this so we're just going to be blunt with it. Schneizel, if you please."

Schneizel took out a photo and slid it across the table to Karin. Karin picked up the photograph and examined it. It was a young man, probably her age with deep purple eyes and jet black hair. He was wearing what looked like a black school uniform. She looked at her father with a confused expression but it was Schneizel who spoke.

"This is my half brother Lelouch, what do you think of him?" Schneizel asked.

Karin looked at the photo again. If Karin had to admit that he was rather cute but his expression made him look cold and expressionless. 'Well if he was Schneizel's brother,' Karin reasoned, she shouldn't be so surprised.

"He's quite handsome," Karin said politely. "Why?"

"Well this young man is your soon-to-be fiancé," her father said proudly.

Silence…

Karin broke the silence with a small laugh, "You - You're kidding right, daddy?"

"Of course not," her father said. "I've invited Schneizel and his family to stay at our villa this summer, so be sure to treat Lelouch well."

"Mom, this is a joke right?" Karin turned to her mom hoping she would clear this up. The happiness she felt when she first came home started to disappear.

"I'm afraid not Karin," her mother answered. "But you said it yourself that he's handsome."

"I was just being polite!" Karin yelled finally losing it.

"Karin!" her father exclaimed. "Calm down."

"Kanon, you can't agree with this too!" Karin turned to her brother.

Kanon looked away, "I've met him, I think you two would be nice together."

"How can you just let your little sister be married off like that?!" Karin yelled at him.

"Karin, that's enough," her father yelled, standing up.

"Karin, the Lamperouge family is quite well known in the business world and we're just making sure you'll continue to live a good life when you leave us." Her mother said trying to reason with her.

"You just want them to pay off our debt didn't you?" Karin said to her father angrily, figuring out what's going on.

"You ungrateful brat, is this how you repay us after how we raised you?!" her father yelled. "Just this favor to the family and you can't do it!"

"This is beyond a favor!" Karin yelled back standing up. "This is my future we're talking about here!"

"You wouldn't have a future if it weren't for us!"

"Argh!" Karin grunted in anger and stomped out of the living and up the stairs.

"I'm so sorry for her behavior Schneizel," Mr. Maldini said. "She's usually very obedient."

"Well marriage is a big thing, I'm sure she's shocked." Schneizel said calmly. "Especially since she's still in high school."

"Yes, I suppose it is." Mr. Maldini laughed nervously.

"I'll go talk to her," Kanon said getting up.

_End flashback_

"Hey!" Lelouch shook her arm. Karin snapped out of her flashback at his voice and looked around. She had spaced out completely for a while, remembering what had happened. She looked over at Lelouch, glad and surprised to see a look of concern on his face.

"Sorry, spaced out there." Karin said trying to laugh.

"You looked sad," Lelouch said.

"Eh, I did?" Karin asked and realized she had been closed to crying.

"What's wrong?" Lelouch asked her.

"Nothing," Karin said downing half of her lemon iced tea to calm herself down.

"Then answer my question, why aren't you opposing this arrangement?" Lelouch asked her.

"Ah you're never going to let that drop are you?" Karin said, her usual peppiness returning.

"It just seemed odd that a pretty girl like you would so readily agree to an arranged marriage." Lelouch said. "Don't you dream about finding Mr. Perfect by yourself like all girls do?"

"Oh so you're a romanticist?" Karin said slyly.

"I'm merely saying that you should marry the person you love, not someone your parents arranged for you." Lelouch started to drink his ice tea.

"Yeah, but what if I had fallen in love with you at first sight?"

Lelouch had spat out the ice tea he was drinking at that moment. "Impossible!"

"So you don't believe in love at first sight?" Karin asked as her hands idly curled her hair.

"Well…I don't know…maybe…but that's beside the point." Lelouch said, flustered.

"This may be a bit of a random question but what hair color do you like on a girl?" Karin asked.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Lelouch asked confused.

"Just wondering," Karin said.

Lelouch thought for a moment and C.C. popped in his mind, and before he could think about it, he answered, "Green".

"Really?" Karin asked surprised. "Weird color…"

'Wait…why did I say that?' Lelouch thought to himself. He turned back to Karin and her astonished expression and decided he should just play along with it. "You're not going to dye your hair green or something, are you?"

"Of course not," Karin said. "Well if you want me too…"

"Not really, no," Lelouch sand bluntly. "So why aren't against this whole arranged marriage thing?" Lelouch asked again.

"I already told you, I had fallen in love with you at first sight." Karin said.

"Don't be stupid," Lelouch said coldly.

"And why are you so against this then?" Karin asked. "You said I was pretty."

"Don't look too much into it," Lelouch said. "And shouldn't it be obvious why I'm against this? My life is being decided for me by someone else!"

"Do you already have some you love?" Karin asked, ignoring the last part of his answer.

Luckily Lelouch hadn't been drinking anything when she asked that, "what makes you think that?"

"Don't answer with a question!"

"No, I don't." Lelouch answered. As Lelouch said that, he couldn't but feel that he was lying because a certain green haired girl had popped into his mind again. 'God I need some sleep,' Lelouch thought. He rubbed his temples.

"Then there's no problem," Karin said. "I'm sure you'll love me eventually."

"Whatever," Lelouch said. "Can we skip dinner? It's only my first day here and it's been hectic so I want to get some sleep."

"Fine," Karin sighed and she got up to pay for their drinks.

They returned to the villa soon enough to see the two families in the large living room talking about business. Evidently, they had just finished dinner. Euphie and Nunnally had gone to sleep already. Lelouch ignored Clovis when he tried to question him about his day and walked straight up the stairs. As far as he was concerned, they were all out to ruin his life, except Euphie and Nunnally of course. He found his room and just collapsed on the bed without changing or putting the covers over himself and soon fell asleep.

Downstairs, Karin watched as Lelouch ignored even his own parents and walked up the stairs to his room. Karin had hoped that Lelouch would at least think about the engagement after today but that was too much to hope for apparently. She walked into the living room to greet everyone.

"So Karin, how do you like Lelouch so far?" Schneizel asked.

"He's charming," Karin smiled. "Well I'm going to turn in for the night too."

Karin went up stairs and headed towards her room. She looked down the hall and noticed that Lelouch's door was slightly opened. She walked over quietly and peeked inside the dark room. Lelouch had fallen asleep the moment he dropped on the bed, he wasn't kidding when he said he was tired. She walked in and extracted a blanket from the closet.

"I know it's hot in the California Valley during the summer, but we have air conditioning so you'll catch a cold if you sleep like this." Karin said, covering Lelouch from neck to toe with the blanket.

_A/N: And a question to you all; how does every one feel about self-insert fics? And especially when the author pairs him/her self up with an existing character? Why am I asking this? I just read a self-insert the other day and I hated it because it was so obvious, so I want to know what everyone else thinks. Include your answer with the review._

_What did Kanon say to Karin to convince her to go along with it? Let's save that for later. See, Karin actually cares and is not just some skank thrown in for competition! And anyone seen Valkyria Chronicles or played the game? Don't Schneizel and Maxmillion look and act so alike? _

_And thank you Ze_Bird for betaing._


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: after a month of absence, I am back. I was busy with finals, you wouldn't believe how brutal college finals are…and I just had two finals and two research papers! Next semester I'll probably have four or five finals! And I got a new fic idea and I decided to write chapter one just to get the ideas out._

_So here's a Christmas present from me, though it's not much but enjoy!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 13:**

It seemed like the whole purpose of this trip was to have Lelouch meet Karin. He doesn't exactly understand what this would accomplish since a marriage is not necessary to form a business partnership. Karin has been glued to Lelouch every chance she got since his arrival. Lelouch lost no time in calling Suzaku and telling him about what happened. Suzaku initially laughed at him but after a few friendly teases, he got serious and listened to Lelouch's problem.

The plan was to stay in California for two weeks and it seemed to be Lelouch's longest two weeks ever. When Karin said there wasn't much for a couple of teenagers to do in Napa, she was right, or maybe they're just foreigners. Lelouch's family originally lived on the east coast.

Cornelia took Euphie and Nunnally to various places around California, Marianne would sometimes join them. Lelouch went along, preferring to spend time with Nunnally and Euphie than his other siblings but wherever Lelouch went, Karin also went along. Although Karin goes wherever Lelouch goes, she doesn't try to hold him the entire time like she did during the first day.

On a particularly hot day, Cornelia decided to drive them down to San Francisco. Lelouch wished Karin didn't come along, not only because he didn't want her to come but also because Lelouch, Nunnally, and Karin would be squeezed into the back of the sedan. Despite the fact that the seat was built for three, it was still uncomfortable to actually seat three.

"You know Karin; you don't have to follow me everywhere." Lelouch said over Nunnally's head. Lelouch put Nunnally in the middle since she was the shortest and to put some space in-between him and Karin.

"But I want to get to know my fiancée better, besides, where else am I supposed to go?" Karin pouted. "I'm not exactly interested in the whole business thing."

"For the last time, disregard what our parents decided." Lelouch said exasperatedly.

"Ah Lelouch, have you called C.C.-san since arriving?" Euphie asked from the front passenger seat.

"No, why would I?" Lelouch asked confused. There was simply too much going on for him to be thinking about that witch.

"Who's C.C.?" Karin asked looking at the two of them with a confused expression.

"One of my friend's cousin who goes to school with onii-sama in Japan, I guess she's a friend?" Nunnally said, thinking of how close two of them seemed despite Lelouch's denial.

Karin misunderstood Nunnally's comment to mean that C.C. and Lelouch are merely acquaintances.

"I don't think you should worry about me Euphie," Lelouch said slyly. "Suzaku said you haven't been calling so he's getting worried if you've met someone here."

"Suzaku?" Cornelia asked looking at her little sister suspiciously.

Euphie was lost for words, apparently she hasn't told her beloved older sister Cornelia about her boyfriend yet. So Lelouch continued, "Suzaku is my best friend and," he paused for a dramatic effect, "our dear Euphie's boyfriend."

"Lelouch!" Euphie exclaimed.

"With the rate you and Suzaku are moving at, Cornelia will have to know sooner or later."

"So you have a boyfriend Euphie?" Karin said excitedly. "And from Lelouch said, it sounds like you two have gone pretty far."

"Wait what?" Cornelia nearly crashed the car into the back of the SUV in front of them. Everyone jerked forward violently and Lelouch held onto Nunnally protectively on instinct.

"No, Lelouch is just exaggerating." Euphie tried to explain.

"So you do a have a boyfriend!" Cornelia's face contorted into a mixture of shock, rage, and maybe horror. "Has he done anything to you?"

"No!" Euphie said pleadingly. "He's very respectful and is a perfect gentleman. Tell her Nunnally."

"Yup, Suzaku-san is very respectful and I think he would be a fine brother-in-law." Nunnally said innocently.

"B-b-brother…" Cornelia stuttered.

"No, we haven't decided that far yet! Sure we've been together for over a year and we have talked about it…" Euphie stopped after noticing Cornelia's expression.

"I guess getting married early is common in the Lamperouge family," Karin said leaning forward.

"Listen to me!" Euphie yelled.

As everyone's attention turned to Euphie, Lelouch looked out the window and continued thinking of a way to get out of this arranged engagement. He had never dealt with a problem like this before so he was unable to think of any plans to counter this. There was the run-away-from-home trick but that would just prove to his father that he had gotten to him, not to mention that was below him.

The mountain scenery gradually changed into fields, and soon the ocean came into view from the distance. Ocean would be wrong word, what they're seeing is merely San Francisco Bay. They passed through one final hill before getting on Oakland Bridge.

Nunnally leaned over Lelouch's lap to look out the window and pointed to an orange-red bridge in the distance, "that's the famous Golden Gate Bridge isn't it?"

"Yup," Karin smiled at Nunnally, "First time seeing it?"

"So if that's the Golden Gate Bridge, this must be…" Nunnally concentrated on her geography lessons in school.

"Oakland Bridge right?" Lelouch said nonchalantly.

"That's right!" Karin said happily.

Cornelia was still interrogating Euphie about Suzaku up front but looked back when Nunnally tapped her shoulders. "Cornelia nee-sama, can we go on the Golden Gate Bridge on the way back?"

"Sure, why not." Cornelia smiled.

The weather was clear and sunny in San Francisco as well but unlike the valley, the temperature was drastically lower. While it was in the 90s in the valley, it was in the comfortable 70s in the bay area. They saw ferries and an assortment of boats as they drove over Oakland Bridge and the small islands scattered across the bay.

When they reached the streets of San Francisco, it reminded Lelouch of the streets of Tokyo with its cars and people. Well, Tokyo was far busier but it was the big city life that Lelouch was used to at least. Cars and buses rolled by them as they wound their way through the heavy traffic of downtown.

"Where are we going?" Nunnally asked as they drove away from the heart of downtown San Francisco. The number of cars around them lessened, and instead of large malls and restaurants, small shops and cafes came into view.

"I wanted to take you guys to Fisherman's Wharf and the surrounding area," Cornelia said looking at Nunnally through the rearview mirror. "It's a popular tourist's spot you pretty much have to go at least once."

"Lelouch, you should take this chance to buy some souvenirs." Euphie said. "You went with us every time we went shopping but you never bought anything. We're going back to Japan in a few days you know."

"That's right Lelouch!" Karin said. "Isn't it a tradition in Japan to buy souvenirs for friends when you go on trips?"

Lelouch actually couldn't think of a retort to this so he just stayed quiet. The pier soon came into a view, a long stretch of seaside shops and attractions, all on a man-made stretch of wooden platform over the water. When Cornelia had parked the car, Lelouch quickly got out and helped Nunnally out.

"Onii-sama, let's go see some shops." Nunnally said pulling Lelouch towards the line of stores. "You still need to buy souvenirs right?"

"Alright, let's go." Lelouch said.

"Euphie and I are going to get something to eat; you guys don't want to come with us?" Cornelia asked.

"We'll get something later," Lelouch said.

"Then call if you get lost or anything,"

"Don't worry, I'll be with them." Karin said walking up to Lelouch around the car.

"I'm sure you're hungry, why don't you go with Cornelia and Euphie?" Lelouch said, getting annoyed.

"No, I'm fine." Karin said.

"Well I want to spend some time with my little sister," Lelouch pulled Karin closer so he can whisper.

Nunnally heard him though, "it's fine if Karin-san wants to come with us. She can be our tour guide."

"We don't need one," Lelouch said bluntly. Cornelia and Euphie had already left.

"Nonsense," Karin exclaimed. "It's your first time here right? Of course you do."

"Onii-sama, let's go!" Nunnally whined pulling at her brother's arm.

"Fine," Lelouch said exasperatedly.

"You really dote on your little sister don't you?" Karin commented.

"Whatever," Lelouch replied.

Lelouch and Nunnally went to various shops around the pier looking at an assortment of trinkets that are quite useless and just meant to lighten a tourist's wallet. Lelouch ignored Karin most of the time but Nunnally would bring her into the conversation whenever possible.

"Nunnally, do you actually like Karin?" Lelouch asked when Karin went to the restroom.

"Just because you don't want to marry her doesn't mean you shouldn't be nice to her," Nunnally replied as Karin ran back up to them.

Being girls, Karin and Nunnally spent quite a long time inside Ghirardelli Chocolate store. Lelouch looked around the store while the two girls tried out different kinds of chocolate. He thought about buying chocolate as souvenirs but realized they would melt before getting back and he might not even be able to take it on the plane. As Lelouch watched Nunnally near the back of the shop tasting chocolate with Karin, he started thinking about what Nunnally had said earlier. Whatever Karin might've told him, Lelouch doesn't believe that she's okay with this engagement at all. After all, who would?

"Onii-sama, try this." Lelouch was shaken out of his thoughts by Nunnally, who came up to him with a square of chocolate. "Maybe you can buy some for the student council members."

Lelouch ate it straight from her hand and smiled at her, "Thanks Nunnally, but I already thought about buying them chocolate. It wouldn't work since it'll just melt."

"But you still need to get souvenirs," Nunnally said, licking the chocolate on her fingers.

"I'll buy them when I see it," Lelouch said.

Lelouch realized Nunnally hadn't eaten anything except chocolate since arriving, so he was about take her to the nearest restaurant to get some food. Karin however, suggested they go to this seaside restaurant.

"That's all the way on the other side of the pier," Lelouch complained when she told him about it and where it is.

"But the clam chowder is so good," Karin said. "You have to try it."

"No we don't," Lelouch said bluntly.

"I feel like eating clam chowder right so let's go onii-sama," Nunnally said.

"But…" Lelouch couldn't think of anything to say. The main reason he didn't want to go was because Karin suggested it.

"It's not that long of walk," Karin said.

"And you need your exercise onii-sama," Nunnally said, almost like a mother. "No wonder you have such weak physical endurance."

"If it's walking its fine," Lelouch sighed. "Fine we'll go eat some clam chowder."

Karin came up to Lelouch and grabbed his arm. She's kept to herself this whole time so Lelouch was a little surprised. She whispered, "You would do anything your sister tells you to do, won't you?"

Lelouch shrugged her off; being nice to her doesn't mean he has to stand her flirting. "Isn't a brother's job to keep his little sister happy?"

Karin looked at him with unreadable eyes before she caught up with Nunnally who was walking ahead of them.

The restaurant Karin took them to, was pretty much just a rectangular red brick building with large windows. There were many tables and chairs outside, surrounded by a clear wall of glass so passersby can't just walk through the tables while still giving off seaside feeling. Unlike regular restaurants, you ordered by going up to the front like a fast food place and once you've placed your order, you get a number and you wait.

Lelouch did not know what else to get so, like Nunnally and Karin, he got Clam Chowder too. It was served in a big bowl made of bread, the insides hollowed out so Clam Chowder can be placed inside it. The top that was cut off served as a lid, it was quite cute. Once they got their food they went outside to eat.

"It's delicious!" Nunnally said happily.

"I told ya!" Karin replied. "And you Lelouch?"

"What?" Lelouch said as he dipped the bread lid into the white soup and taking a bite. "It's not any better than the ones I've eaten before."

"Mood killer," Karin pouted.

"What mood?"

As they ate, Euphie had called them to ask them where they were and to meet up with her as soon as possible. Apparently, Cornelia had not stopped interrogating Euphie about Suzaku the entire time. Lelouch told them where they were right now and Euphie and Cornelia joined them ten minutes later, carrying a bag of probably souvenirs.

"We should head back soon," Cornelia told them. "It's rush hour time right now actually but unless you want to wait until 7 p.m."

"But Onii-sama, hasn't bought anything gifts yet," Nunnally said finishing the last of her chowder, leaving the bread bowl untouched.

"Its fine," Lelouch said nonchalantly.

"That's no good Lelouch," Euphie grabbed Lelouch's hand and pulled him up, turned to the others, "I'll take Lelouch out to buy some gifts since we're leaving in a few days."

"Euphie, do you know where you're going?" Cornelia yelled after her.

"Don't worry!"

After they went crossed the street into the crowd, Euphie finally slowed down. "You wouldn't believe the questions onee-sama was asking me about Suzaku."

"Understandable," Lelouch replied as Euphie let go of his hand. "Like how I've doted on Nunnally, Cornelia has doted on you. I guess it's hard for her to see that you're growing up and dating."

"Then if Nunnally gets a boyfriend, what would you do?"

"Challenge him to a game of chess to see if he's worthy." Lelouch said this in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Are you serious?" Euphie giggled.

"Or I could just send Suzaku on the guy," Lelouch replied. "He's as much a brother to Nunnally as I am."

"I guess so," Euphie said.

"But have you two really talked about marriage already?" Lelouch asked bluntly.

"Ah please don't be like Cornelia nee-sama!" Euphie said. "Right now I'm helping you buy gifts for everyone."

"Ok fine," Lelouch sighed. "It's just I've never been good at choosing gifts."

"I'll help you, but you'll have to choose something for C.C.-san yourself." Euphie winked.

"Why should I give that witch special treatment?" Lelouch retorted. He felt the heat rising in his face.

Euphie didn't reply as she led him into the nearest shop. They looked around for appropriate gifts for everyone, mainly the student council members. With Euphie's help and going into several more stores, Lelouch was able to pick gifts for everyone, except one person.

"I don't know her as well you do," Euphie said when he tried to ask for her help.

Lelouch didn't know what to get; all he knew was that C.C. loves pizza. He tried looking for something pizza related but all he found were useless trinkets. He felt compelled to buy her something better than the usual souvenir trinket that a person will probably forget after several months. As he looked around, he was surprised to find a bracelet of tiny silver pizzas. Lelouch laughed aloud at the absurdity of it all. A bracelet is a bit cliché and might carry the wrong message but he can always sort that later. Besides, he was desperate right now.

Lelouch and Euphie returned to car and Cornelia drove them back. It was still during rush hour so the return trip was significantly longer. By the time they got back to the villa, everyone had eaten dinner already. Lelouch didn't really care anyways so he skipped dinner and just went up to his room to pack. They were to return to Japan the day after tomorrow and he was eagerly looking forward to it.

The next day was spent in leisure, just relaxing under the blazing valley sun while enjoying some drinks and food. Clovis had suggested they play chess for old time's sake but after several victories by Lelouch, Clovis was the one who called for a stop. Lelouch mostly ignored everyone the whole day and was glad for the day to end, since it meant their trip was over.

The next day, the Maldinis saw them off at the airport. Apparently Schneizel was not going back with them but has some things to take care of so he stayed behind. Lelouch's parents, mainly Marianne, graciously thank the Maldinis for their hospitality while Euphie was saying a tearful goodbye to Cornelia. Lelouch just hung back while Nunnally talked with Karin. The boarding announcement finally came and Lelouch turned without a word.

Nunnally pulled on his sleeve and he looked back, "Onii-sama, remember what I said about being nice." and gestured toward Karin.

Lelouch sighed and walked over to Karin and said very quickly without looking at her, "Thanks for everything."

"What's a fiancée for?" Karin smiled.

Lelouch cringed at that word, glad that he won't see her again, at least not for a while.

"We'll see each other soon though so don't miss me too much!" Karin waved at them as Lelouch walked away.

"I won't," Lelouch muttered under his breath.

_A/N: Okay, they're back in Japan now, torture over? I wanted to end the trip as soon as possible too, so here's a really long chapter. _

_Apparently, people who learned English as a second language has a hard time with word tense? I was an ESL student back in third grade but I thought I had learned the language pretty fast, to the point of almost forgetting my original language. So I know people have been telling me about my tense usage but it's an innate problem I guess? I'll try my best to fix it. _

_This chapter was really hard to write…Nunnally is so polite…_

_And I got a guitar for Christmas! Now to learn how to play….don't worry I'll still write_

_The restaurant mentioned in this chapter does exist, I just can't remember the name because it's been so long since I've went…and the Clam Chowder there is awesome…_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Yay for breaks…and its summer in the story right now, and you know what means. And I recently got an idea for another LelouchXC.C. fic based on Spice and Wolf but that won't be published for a while. And I just realized after re-watching Code Geass, Euphie is spelled Euphy. I like "Euphie" better anyways. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 14**

The cicadas buzzed loudly in the blazing summer morning sun. Despite the early hours, the humidity in the air already hung heavy and wet; but inside the Lamperouge mansion, the heat outside was ignored by the black haired young man sleeping peacefully. He had the curtains drawn so as to block out the sunlight and the air conditioning made the inside of the mansion cool and comfortable. The young man's peaceful sleep was disturbed by the loud ring of his cell phone and so he groggily sat up, got out of bed and walked over to his desk where his phone flashed.

"Good morning Lelouch!" an excited voice of a girl yelled through the phone.

"Milly," Lelouch pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment before putting it back and saying, "what is it Milly? It's only eight."

"It's summer Lelouch so we have to go to the beach," Milly said excitedly. "Besides, you haven't left your house once since coming back from your vacation."

"That's because I was tired," Lelouch said. "And I'm still tired so I'm going to skip out on this one."

"But I've already invited everybody," Milly whined.

"So?" Lelouch said simply.

"I even invited C.C." Milly said sweetly.

"So?" Lelouch repeated, though the image of C.C. in a bikini flashed across his mind.

"If I can't convince you to go…" Milly trailed off and hung up.

Lelouch looked at his phone, confused, but decided to give up and go back to bed. He had been back home for the past three days but hasn't gone out, and opted to stay home and sleep off the effects of jet lag. The gifts he bought for everyone sat on the floor by his desk, still in their bags, unmoved since being left there on his first day back. There were one and half more weeks of summer vacation until the second semester starts. As Lelouch got comfortable on his bed, he heard a knock on his door.

"Sayoko-san, I'm sleeping in today too." Lelouch called, thinking it was Sayoko coming to wake him up again.

"It's me Lelouch!" Euphie's voice drifted through the door. "I just got a phone call from the president and she said we're going to the beach."

"Go ahead," Lelouch yelled back.

Another voice joined Euphie's, this time much more excited and shriller. "Onii-sama, Milly-san just called and invited us to go to the beach and to wake you up."

'So that's how she planned to make me go,' Lelouch thought. His phone rang again and the screen flashed Milly's name. "Not good enough Milly." He smirked.

"Are you sure?" Milly said slyly. "Nunnally-chan and Euphie will be going too. Don't you want to watch over Nunnally-chan? I mean she is getting to that age…and Suzaku will be with Euphie."

Lelouch's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "are you saying you'll leave her alone?"

"Of course not," Milly said innocently. "We would never, but the beach is crowded. Suzaku will be with Euphie most of the time and they would like their alone time right? Kallen too since she might be bringing a guy, and Rivalz can't be depended on, while me and Shirley are still just girls."

"What about C.C. and my alone…I mean," Lelouch faked a cough before continuing. "What about C.C.?"

"She'll be with you of course," Milly said happily. "You shouldn't leave a girl alone at a beach full of hot guys; you never know who might snatch her away. C.C. doesn't seem like she would mind watching Nunnally with you. And don't worry about Shirley; I talked to her about it so you don't have to feel guilty about being with C.C."

"That's not the problem here…" Lelouch sighed.

"I guess you don't have to come but Nunnally seems excited about coming with her beloved onii-sama,"

Just then, Nunnally's voice came through the door into his room again, "you better get ready onii-sama, we'll be going soon."

"Fine, I'll be there." Lelouch said and hung up.

They all agreed to meet at ten but when Lelouch arrived; most of the others were already there. He and his sisters went into their respective changing rooms once they waved at the others, telling them that they're here. Lelouch wore a simple pair black swim trunks and a white button up shirt. He looked out at his gathered friends while he waited for his sisters. So far, Suzaku, Milly, Rivalz, Shirley, and Nina had arrived. Apparently C.C. was late and Lelouch could only hope she didn't get lost like her first day in Japan.

Suzaku was wearing a pair of white swim trunks that had a gold line running down both side. Milly was in a frilly navy blue bikini with the same color cloth wrapped around her waist while wearing a straw sun hat. Rivalz was in a dark blue swim trucks and he was staring at Milly like an idiot. Shirley was in a simple blue two-piece while Nina wore the school swimsuit. As Lelouch waited, his mind wandered to what C.C. would be wearing. He was broken out of his thoughts when his sisters came out. Euphie was wearing a white two-piece that if Cornelia saw, she would be screaming for Euphie to change. Nunnally on the hand was in a conservative and rather childish looking one-piece with a skirt. Lelouch had convinced her to bring this after what Milly said to him, although it left her back exposed. Lelouch had made Nunnally wear something over it when she isn't swimming.

"Yo Lelouch," Suzaku grunted a greeting after a rather passionate greeting with Euphie. "Finally out of the house eh?" Lelouch had gotten used to their behavior over the past year so he didn't think much of it.

"Did you become a hikkikomori," Rivalz said sarcastically, his attention turned away from Milly when Lelouch walked up to them.

"So where are our gifts?" Milly said excitedly.

"I have it right here," Lelouch said with a slight smirk and gestured to the bag at his side. "But after such a rude question, I'm having second thoughts about handing them out."

Euphie and Nunnally were already handing the souvenirs they bought to everyone already so Lelouch waited until they were done by asking Milly, "So C.C. hasn't arrived yet?"

"Nope, but she'll be here so you'll get to see your C.C. soon," Milly cooed.

Lelouch decided to ignore her and instead, started to hand out the souvenirs he bought. "Suzaku, here." Lelouch tossed a rolled up parcel to him and Suzaku caught it with one hand since his other arm was wrapped around Euphie. It was a shirt that said in bold letters, 'I'M DATING MY BESTFRIEND'S SISTER' along with illustration of a male and female stick figure holding hands and another stick figure stalking them from behind. "It seemed quite appropriate don't you think?" Lelouch laughed.

Next Lelouch dug out a round package and handed it to Rivalz. It was one of those mixers bartenders used to mix drinks along with a book on how to mix certain drinks. The sides were clear so one can look at its contents while it was being mixed. "You worked at a bar for a while and learned how to mix drinks before they found out you faked your age right? Well here's one for you to use and learn." Lelouch told him.

Lelouch reached into the bag again and took out a small rectangular box and gave it to Shirley. "Here," he said as he handed it to her without looking at her directly. It has been a bit awkward talking with her ever since her confession – if you can call it that – during the festival, so her gift was the second hardest to find next to C.C.'s because Lelouch didn't want to give her the wrong idea. So he settled for a pair of designer sunglasses with small diamonds – probably fake – encrusted on its rim.

"Thanks Lulu," Shirley said brightly and smiled. Lelouch didn't know what to make of it so he moved on.

"Here you go, Nina." Lelouch smiled and handed Nina a small shopping bag. "I wasn't exactly sure what to get you so Euphie helped out a lot when choosing this." It was true, although they were both in the student council, they did not talk much, Nina was always on her computer doing one thing or another and Milly was the only one who could approach her casually. Lelouch was quite surprised when Nina's face lit up with joy.

"Thank you Lelouch," Nina exclaimed in joy. "I love it." It was a small dark green purse that Euphie thought was cute and that since she got Nina a wallet, it would go well together.

"And now yours Milly…" Lelouch smirked. He reached into the bag and withdrew an object that looked like a diary. It had a leather cover and a pen was attached to the cover.

"A planner?" Milly asked when she opened it. "Cheapskate!" Milly smacked Lelouch on the side of his head with the ringed spine and Lelouch just laughed.

"I thought it was a good idea since you're always rushing us to finish paperwork that you forgot," Lelouch chuckled. "I know that's a bit cheap so Euphie made me get you something else, although keep the planner because I really think you need it. But you'll have to wait because I couldn't bring it since it's rather big."

The group continued talking to wait for the two who still hasn't arrived yet. It was well past 10:30 when they saw Kallen from the table they were sitting at in front of a small shop. Kallen was wearing a white shirt and short jean shorts that accentuated her nice figure and long legs. She was also carrying a bag of beach supplies similar to the others. Beside her walked another young man their age, that Lelouch recognized as the same person from the festival and that day he went out with C.C. His thin rimmed sunglasses glinted in the sun. He wore a white t-shirt and black swim trunks with white stripes down the sides.

"Sorry we're late," Kallen said as she jogged up to them. "We missed the first bus because Yoshitake wanted to sleep in."

"I just wanted to you come and wake me up, Kallen." the person named Yoshitake teased. He turned to the group and started introducing himself. "My name's Han Yoshitake and I'm a second year at Sano High. Nice to meet you guys."

"Ooo Kallen," Milly cooed, draping an arm on the redhead's shoulders. "Boyfriend?"

Kallen jumped back in surprise and started stuttering an incoherent answer so Yoshitake answered for her. "Don't be so shy Kallen. We're already on first name term so yes, I am her boyfriend." Kallen didn't object to this so they just took his word for it, though they could see a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

"I haven't told anyone yet so that's why I was a bit taken aback…" Kallen muttered.

C.C. arrived soon after Kallen and brought with her two other girls who Lelouch recognized as Nunnally's friends. Nunnally quickly ran up to greet them while C.C. walked toward them. "Sorry I'm late, my cousin came over just as I was about to leave and said she wanted to come along. So we had to go back to her place to get her stuff then we had to meet her friend." C.C. explained calmly.

"Its fine, its fine," Milly said. "Now that everyone's here, let's go!"

"Wait, don't you need to change?" Lelouch asked C.C.

"I'm wearing it under my cloths already."

The large group of teenagers marched off, trying to find a deserted spot big enough for them. It wasn't even noon yet and the beach was already quite crowded. They wound their way through the mass of beach goers until they found a nice, big, and clear area. Shirley and Milly had brought a net and poles for beach volleyball so they went to set up with Suzaku and Euphie. Nina inflated the various inflatable objects like beach balls, rafts, and plastic animals with the electric pump while Rivalz helped her. Yoshitake and Kallen had gone off to buy ice to fill the ice chest and Nunnally and her friends laid the various blankets on the ground and put up the umbrellas. This left Lelouch and C.C. alone with nothing to do.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" C.C. said nonchalantly.

"Yeah…" Lelouch said nervously and looked away, "Nice to see you again though." He glanced over at her and saw her pulling her dress over head and he jumped back in surprise. "What are you doing?!"

C.C. pulled her dress of before answering him, "I'm changing into my swimsuit, why?"

"At least give a little warning before you start taking off your cloths." Lelouch said a bit annoyed but as he looked her over, he couldn't help but keep staring. C.C. was wearing a white one-piece but it might as well be a bikini. It left her back completely exposed as well as her sides because all that held the front and back together, along with the shoulder straps were several thin strings. The front of the swimsuit was split down the middle so it only covered her breasts, leaving her stomach exposed and it was only cut off just below her stomach.

"What?" C.C. asked, noticing his stare.

"Nothing," Lelouch answered quickly and looked away.

"Like what you see?" C.C. teased, edging closer to Lelouch.

"Anyways, here's something I bought for you on vacation." Lelouch said and handed her a box.

C.C. stopped her advance and looked at the box for a second before taking it out of his hand.

"It's not anything special, I got everyone something." Lelouch said as he tried to sound casual. "Speaking of which, I forgot to give Kallen her gift."

"A pizza bracelet," C.C. sounded as if she didn't even hear what he said. "How sweet, thanks Lelouch." C.C. leaned in and kissed him on cheek before he had time to respond. "You know exactly what I like don't you?"

"Onii-sama and C.C.-san…!" Nunnally covered her mouth in surprise. "So you two really are together."

"Nunnally!" Lelouch just noticed that their friends were all looking at them. Milly's expression was that of someone plotting an evil scheme. "It's not what it looks like!"

"Nemo, did you know? Since when?" Nunnally asked.

"I don't know what's going on," Nemo told her. "She never tells me and when I ask her, she either ignores it or gives me some weird answer; though I should say she has never denied anything."

"Oh so you two are actually together eh?" Yoshitake said. He and Kallen had just reappeared, each holding a side of a large ice chest now probably filled with ice.

"No we're not," Lelouch answered. "I don't know why she did what she just did but we're not." He avoided looking at C.C. but everyone seemed to have gotten the message. He was rather tired of their teasing.

"I guess not then," Nemo commented.

"Come on, we're at the beach so let's go swimming!" Milly said.

"Right behind you," Rivalz said running after Milly.

Shirley grabbed Nina's hand and went after the two as well. C.C. was goaded into a race by her cousin and also followed the others. Euphie tried to pull Suzaku in but Suzaku told her to go ahead and Suzaku made his way toward Lelouch as Euphie took Nunnally and Alice with her.

"So what's wrong?" Suzaku said sitting beside Lelouch.

Yoshitake and Kallen also went into the water after shedding the outer layer of their cloths to reveal their swimsuits. Kallen was wearing a simple red two-piece.

"Nothing," Lelouch answered casually. He looked out into the water, keeping an eye on Nunnally.

"We've known each other since we were nine," Suzaku said matter-of-factly. "I think I'd know better than anyone if something was wrong with you."

Lelouch glanced over at the brown haired Japanese boy before saying, "does it really look like me and C.C. is dating?"

"Yes," Suzaku said simply. "And that was rather mean, you know."

"What?"

"When you said flat-out denied that you guys aren't together," Suzaku answered, "could've been more subtle."

"It's the truth."

"I think she likes you though," Suzaku said suddenly. "C.C. is a rather strange girl from what I could tell. She doesn't try to impress anyone, though the swimsuit she's wearing says otherwise. Perhaps she does it unconsciously, trying to impress you and hides it with teases."

"Don't let Euphie hear you complimenting another girl's swimsuit," Lelouch chuckled, but he took Suzaku's words to heart.

They had taken the beach ball out there and began hitting it to each other. It seems C.C. and Nemo had finished their race and joined the others as well. Lelouch watched the group and thought about what Suzaku said; that C.C. liked him. Well that girl was a difficult person to read so he wouldn't know but he has never been aware of such things anyways.

Euphie and Nunnally came up to Lelouch and Suzaku and started pulling the two out to play as well. Lelouch could never say no to Nunnally so he got up to join the others. The cool sea water definitely felt great in this hot weather. They would occasionally get knocked over by a powerful wave that pushed towards the shore. C.C. was still acting like she always was towards Lelouch despite his proclamation earlier. Despite his popularity, Lelouch actually had no dating experience whatsoever. Unlike his brother Clovis who relished in his popularity amongst the female population when he was at school, Lelouch chose to deflect the girls' affections, though apparently that created the image of his cold and hard personality.

Lelouch thought about the day he spent with C.C. before going on vacation and the question that plagued him came back. Was that a date? And if it was, does that mean they were dating? He certainly finds C.C. to be an interesting person, more interesting than the other girls in school. He remembered how C.C. would pop into his mind when he was in America whenever Karin had asked him a question concerning his love life and random times in between.

After a while, they decided to stop and rest. The drinks should be cooled down more than enough and Shirley had made food for everyone. C.C. had complained that there weren't any pizza but everyone knew of her obsession for pizza by now so it didn't seem rude, though Shirley looked a bit put-off.

After the meal, Milly had suggested 2-man team volleyball tournament and that everyone has to join. The couples in the group were automatically teamed together by Milly so Lelouch's plan of teaming up with Suzaku failed, and once Milly decides something, nobody can say otherwise. She then went on to decide everyone else's teammates and Rivalz looked disappointed when Milly didn't pick him for her team. The final teams came out as; Suzaku and Euphie, Yoshitake and Kallen, Milly and Shirley, Rivalz and Nina, and finally Lelouch and C.C. Nunnally and her two friends were placed in a 3-man team because of the odd number and the height advantage everyone had over them. Lelouch couldn't help but think that Milly did this on purpose, putting him and C.C. together.

"Ah, I'm not good at volleyball…" Yoshitake said as he sat beside Lelouch. It was Suzaku and Euphie versus Rivalz and Nina right now. Kallen had gone to the restroom with a few of the other girls including C.C.

"Don't worry, you're not alone." Lelouch chuckled. Milly was keeping score and acting as the referee, but one who was constantly yelling things to the players.

"So, are you and…C.C. was it…dating?" Yoshitake said taking a drink from the ice chest and handing one to Lelouch. "Want one?"

"No we're not…"Lelouch answered casually as he took the offered bottle before adding, "I think."

"You think?"

"I never really thought about it so I don't know."

"Have you asked her?"

"No, why should I?" Lelouch took a swig before saying, "she asked me out before I went on vacation but I don't know if that could be considered a date." He left out the kiss on the cheek part at the end.

"Yeah she likes you," Yoshitake said nonchalantly.

"I don't know."

"Kallen said you're pretty popular in school despite how arrogant you are."

"She said I was arrogant huh?"

"You mad?" Yoshitake asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Not really, Nunnally says so too. Or it could be just her friends influencing her."

"So do you like her? C.C.?"

"I actually don't know how to answer that," Lelouch chuckled. "She's certainly the most interesting girl I've ever met."

"This is just what I think so you don't have to listen," Yoshitake continued, "I think you do like her but you are denying it. Why? I don't know. Though you should hurry, otherwise someone else might come along and steal her away. I mean, she is pretty good looking."

"Better not let Kallen hear you say that," Lelouch laughed. "And here, give this to Kallen, I haven't had the chance to give it to her. It's a souvenir." Lelouch gave him a box and he opened it.

"Red lotus hair pins?" Yoshitake asked confused.

"She'll understand what it means and Kallen is such a tomboy; this is to enhance her femininity."

"I'll tell her that, though you know she'll probably never wear it right?" Yoshitake laughed before he got up to go find Kallen.

Their "tournament" continued with Suzaku and Euphie's win, although it was mostly Suzaku's work. It was Kallen's team's turn next but not before she tried to pummel Lelouch for his comment on her femininity. So she enjoyed herself quite a lot when she played against Lelouch and C.C. Kallen and Suzaku being the most athletic of those here, easily became the last ones standing and went against each other. The volleyball match between Suzaku and Kallen ended in a close victory by Kallen, their partners barely did anything except setting it up for them.

While that was going on, Rivalz, Shirley, and Nina had disappeared somewhere only to return to with several watermelons and a bat. What was a trip to the beach without the traditional watermelon smashing? They each took it in turns to be blindfolded and spun and attempt to hit the watermelon based on the instructions yelled by everyone around them. The tricky part was discerning the real instructions from the fake. Kallen took this chance and started edging toward Lelouch's voice with the bat, pretending to follow the directions everyone was giving her while C.C. just watched and everyone laughed. Being blindfolded and dizzy, even with his dismal athletic skills, Lelouch was able to dodge the attempted the swings.

After they ate the watermelons, smashed melon carcasses lay on the hot sand, their red juice and insides looking like blood spilled over a violent scene of battle.

They all dispersed to go home when the sun started setting, though they all took the same bus to the train station. By the time Lelouch got home, it was well into the night already so he just asked Sayoko to bring food into his room. As he ate, he began thinking about the events of the day and his mind lingered on the relationship between him and C.C. In any case, he felt bad about how he just bluntly denied the fact that C.C. was his girlfriend that morning, even if she doesn't like him that might still hurt. So he picked up his phone and called her.

"Hello," C.C. said through the other side.

"Hey, so you got home safely then," Lelouch said. "Didn't get lost?"

"I'm not a klutz," C.C. said tiredly. "So what do you want?"

"About what I said this morning," Lelouch stopped and tried to think of what to say next. "I should apologize."

"What did you say?"

"You know…about you not being…my girlfriend."

"Eh…so the prideful Lelouch Lamperouge is afraid of hurting others' feelings." C.C. teased

"It's taking a lot just for me to say this okay…"

"Its fine, what you said is true though. We're not dating or anything."

"Yeah…that's right," Lelouch laughed nervously.

There was a moment of silence between them before C.C. broke it. "Is there anything else?"

"Ah…nothing, I guess." Lelouch said, snapping out of his daze. Then he remembered the kisses. "What did the kisses mean? Do you…"

But C.C. had cut him off, "good night Lelouch."

Before Lelouch could say anything, she hung up. He stared at the screen of his cell phone and decided that he'll ask her some other time.

_A/N: In which I'm a horrible, horrible, horrible person. _

_All the gifts are completely made up on the spot but I try to make it something real and something for the specific character._

_Yoshitake is my OC and his name came from the Japanese reading of a Chinese name. Sano High is a real school in Japan by the way, except it's not Tokyo but for this, let's make it so. How do I know? I spent two weeks there as an exchange student two summers ago. And I've done watermelon smashing before too, it's like a funnier version of hitting piñata. _

_I'm not a particularly huge fan of GinoXKallen, read my profile._

_This ended up way longer than I expected. I think the next one might be quite short…just maybe._

_I just had a sadistic moment with the watermelons because this fic just seem so lighthearted, sorry. And it's like 1:30 a.m. right now…writing is my outlet._

_Hikkikomori is someone who stays home all the time playing games and other things, and rarely if ever, go outside._


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: I am quite enjoying my break but I know it's going to come to a speeding end now._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 15**

Before school officially started, Milly had one more summer event that she dragged Lelouch to. After hearing about a summer festival in a nearby town from Suzaku, she called everyone up again to go and ordered everyone to wear yukata. Lelouch and his sisters had one for such occasions but C.C. had called him and asked to go yukata shopping with her. Though neither had said that it was a date, everyone in the shop probably thought so and also Lelouch couldn't help but kept thinking it was a date the whole way through. C.C. was in the changing room at the time so she didn't hear one of the workers recommending certain colors of yukata to match his "girlfriend's" hair. Lelouch had politely denied it, though Lelouch was not sure if she believed him or not since her smile got even wider at that statement. C.C. had ended up buying a deep blue yukata with yellow-green bamboo patterns and a purple obi and bow. Then C.C. realized she doesn't know how to tie a yukata and called Lelouch and his sisters to go help her on the day of the festival, so they arrived at the festival together which led to increased teasing of their relationship that night.

Not to mention C.C. would constantly dodged the question Lelouch wanted to ask her by interrupting him or changing the subject before he could finish. It was as if she knew what was about to come out his mouth. Lelouch gave up asking directly and now attempted to coax it out of her or catch her off guard.

Student council members had to go to school several days earlier than the rest of the student populace to help the staff prepare. Milly was going on about two new transfer students from out of the country while Lelouch pretended to be interested and just nodded or said yes at the pauses. This also happened to be Milly's last semester at Ashford before graduating so she'll most likely try to hold as many events as possible, and that meant more work for Lelouch and the others.

The first day of school started like any normal day, Lelouch arrived to class earlier than most to claim his usual seat by the window since the seating arrangement was decided by where you sit at the beginning of the semester. Although it was somewhat unnecessary since most people opted to sit in the same place as before most of the time. Suzaku came and sat down on the empty seat next to Lelouch.

"You think Villetta sensei will allow us to sit next to each other?" Lelouch asked, chuckling as he remembered how Villetta sensei made Suzaku change seats for talking too much. It seems to she started noticing the hand signs the two used to communicate. The girl that was switched with Suzaku was ecstatic about sitting next to Lelouch but she was moved by Villetta again for not paying attention in class.

"New semester, new seats," Suzaku laughed a little before saying, "or should I move when C.C. gets here?"

"Now why would you need to do that?" Lelouch asked sarcastically.

Before Suzaku answered, Rivalz had dropped in the seat in front of Lelouch and turned around to the face the two best friends. "Damn it, I wanted to sit with my buddy Lelouch." Rivalz now sat straddling the chair, and rested his chin on his arms that lay across the top of the chair's back.

"You sound like one of his fan-girls," Suzaku laughed.

By now, most of the class had already arrived. Shirley and Kallen had taken the table in the middle row that was diagonally in front of them to the right, next to Rivalz's table. C.C. came in later than most and took the seat in the table behind Lelouch.

"Morning, you arrived pretty late." Lelouch said as he turned around to face her. Suzaku and Rivalz began talking about what Milly has planned. "Most of the good seats are gone."

"Eh…but I like this seat too," C.C. said. "Or did you mean the seat next to you when you said 'good seats'?" C.C. smirked a little at the twitch in Lelouch's left eye. "A bit egotistical, aren't we?"

"Witch…" Lelouch muttered.

Class started soon and one of the boys that Lelouch never bothered to remember the name of took the seat next to C.C. Lelouch found himself trying to ignore the two talking and laughing behind him, and occasionally took glances back at her.

Villetta sensei came in to the room and started to address the class from the raised podium. "Alright be quiet, you're not on break anymore." The last of the talkers stopped and looked up. "It seems we have another new student, we're getting quite a lot of those these days." Lelouch noticed that she took a glance at his general direction, probably C.C. "So here she is, come in."

The door to the front of the classroom slid open and Lelouch's eyes widened in shock at the blond girl in the vanilla colored Ashford uniform. She walked up and stood next to the podium and winked when she noticed Lelouch. The other students seemed confused at her winking but Lelouch could only stare in shock.

"Introduce yourself," Villetta prompted.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Karin Maldini!" Karin chirped enthusiastically. "I transferred here from the states recently and I'm technically supposed to be a senior right now. My family owns a large vineyard in California. I like hang out with friends, shop, and just have fun! And let's see….what else…I'm also Lelouch Lamperouge's fiancé. I'll be in your care from now on." Karin made a deep bow but nobody seemed to be paying attention to her. Everyone in class seemed to be staring at Lelouch now, including Villetta sensei.

'Idiot…' Lelouch thought as he face-palmed himself.

"Well uh…" Villetta sensei finally seemed to have found her voice. "There's an empty seat in the second row so sit there."

"I guess it can't be helped," she chirped happily and took a seat next a girl with light purple hair in the desk in front of Kallen and Shirley. The girl did not introduce herself to Karin but looked at her with menacing eyes.

"Anyways, let's begin." Villetta sensei said as her usual vigor returned.

"So that's her eh?" Suzaku whispered, "Didn't know she would chase you all the way here."

Lelouch only nodded.

Throughout class, Shirley was stealing glances back at Lelouch and Lelouch could tell that Rivalz was itching to talk to him about it from the way he was fidgeting. Kallen seemed to be particularly interested in this too. Suzaku wasn't showing any outward signs of curiosity since Lelouch had already told him through the phone but Lelouch could tell he was eager to find out more. Lelouch dreaded the moment when Milly would find out, as she surely would now that Karin just blatantly announced it to the whole class. Lelouch was also curious to see C.C.'s reaction but was afraid to look back. He could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. It did not help that Karin would turn back and wave or wink at him whenever the teacher wasn't looking.

Lunch break inevitably came soon and Rivalz turned his chair around so quick, Lelouch was surprised the legs didn't twist around themselves. Before he could say anything however, Karin had walked up to them.

"Darling, let's eat lunch together!" she said as she held a lunchbox. "If you didn't bring anything, we can share!"

"You're awfully energetic…" Lelouch said as his face twitched a little.

"When you said fiancé…" Rivalz said to her.

"Yup, together and engaged." She said happily.

"Don't decide anything on your own!" Lelouch said annoyed.

"What's your name?" Karin said walking around to C.C. suddenly. "I noticed that you've been staring at the back of my fiancé's head like you're trying to read his mind or something."

"I don't know what you're talking about…" C.C. replied.

As if a veil over his genius mind had been lifted, a sudden idea came to Lelouch like a bullet, surprised he didn't think of it before. He was flattered that C.C. was staring at him too but now's not the time for that. He quickly got up and walked around the other side of the desk and wrapped an arm around C.C.'s shoulder as she got up to leave.

"What's wrong with a girlfriend staring at her boyfriend?" Lelouch said in his silkiest voice.

"Girlfriend?" Karin and C.C. said in unison.

"Yes," Lelouch said quickly to Karin, "since last semester." He noticed that Suzaku and the others held the same expressions of confusion. Lelouch signaled to Suzaku to _"play along"_ when he caught Suzaku's eyes.

"Yeah…" Suzaku said after seeing the signal. "C.C. transferred here last semester and they've been in love ever since."

Lelouch scowled at Suzaku's wording but his words seemed to have signaled the others as well because at that moment Rivalz butted in, "Yup, they were devastated when Lelouch left Japan for two weeks."

The classroom door suddenly opened and Milly busted into the room, "what is this I hear about Lelouch's fiancé?"

News travelled fast but Lelouch didn't care right now as Milly did not know of his little ruse. He quickly thought of something to say that'll tell Milly what's going on indirectly but Suzaku seemed to know what he was thinking about because he said, "Milly, Lelouch and C.C. wanted to know which of your events this semester involves couples because they wanted to plan ahead to match."

That didn't seem to work as well because Milly just looked confuse and asked "why?"

"Ah I have something to talk to you about the finances for the swim club!" Shirley said and pushed Milly out of the room.

"You said you didn't have a girlfriend when I asked," Karin said suspiciously.

"Yes well, we wanted to keep it on a strict need-to-know basis and I didn't think you were going to come here…" Lelouch said.

C.C. had been staring at Lelouch with an unreadable expression during this whole exchange and finally caught on, "well no point in playing dumb now that it's exposed." She sighed and leaned in, wrapping her arms around Lelouch's waist. He stiffened up for a moment before relaxing and she continued, "Originally, it was just supposed to be us, the student council who knew."

"So that's you meant when you said you liked green hair…" Karin said.

C.C. gave Lelouch a light squeeze when Karin said that but Lelouch wasn't sure if it's something good or bad.

"Well, I guess we're rivals then?" Karin said to C.C. and held out a hand and smiled. "May the best woman win?"

"I already know I'm the best woman for Lelouch," C.C. said and leaned up to kiss him right by his mouth. Lelouch tried his best to hide his surprise and smiled.

"Sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Lelouch said apologetically.

"Why don't you join us for lunch Karin?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch gave C.C. a squeeze on her shoulders, hoping she understood the '_what the hell are you doing?' _that he wanted to yell at her.

"I'd be honored to," Karin said and stood as close as possible on Lelouch's left.

"I'll go get Euphie…" Suzaku said and he ran out. Euphie normally finds them but Suzaku wanted to explain to Euphie what happened so she can play along.

C.C. slackened her hold on Lelouch but held on just to play the part. Kallen walked ahead and looked back at Lelouch with a _'let's see how you get out of this one'_ expression. Lelouch had hoped she had become friendlier towards him after the beach and the festival but it seems she still treated him like usual. They met Milly and Shirley down the hall and Shirley was talking very fast while Milly just nodded. Shirley stopped when she noticed them walking towards them.

"So the usual place?" she said casually.

So Shirley and Milly joined them on the way down to the quad. It seemed that Milly understood the situation and was playing along as well. Lelouch didn't expect to run into another obstacle in the form of Gino and Anya.

"Yo, mind if we joined you for lunch?" Gino said, more to Kallen than the group. "Why are you holding C.C. like that?" Gino asked when he noticed Lelouch.

Karin looked over to Lelouch suspiciously.

"Ah Gino," Kallen suddenly said. "Why don't we go on ahead?"

"Oh really?" Gino said excitedly. "You finally realized your true feelings!"

"You too Anya," Kallen said quickly as she pushed Anya along too. Kallen looked back at Lelouch with a _'you owe me one'_ expression.

"So Karin right?" Rivalz said. "How long have you known Lelouch?" they had just exited the school building and Rivalz was now walking backwards while talking to them.

"We just met this summer," Karin said happily. "And it was love at first sight!"

"What…" Rivalz stammered. "Isn't that a bit fast?"

"I said it was love at first sight," Karin said as if it were an obvious fact.

"Lelouch, accompany me to get lunch would you?" C.C. said letting go of his waist and pulling him towards the cafeteria.

"Sure," Lelouch said, and he turned to Karin and Rivalz. "You guys go ahead."

As they left a slightly put off Karin and confused Rivalz behind, Lelouch finally relaxed but C.C. still hadn't let go of his hand. "You can let go now," Lelouch said.

"Of course not," C.C. said. "You never know who might gossip." They turned a corner and went into the cafeteria where some students sat in the tables. C.C. walked them up to the line, "so what's going on?"

"Exactly what it looks like," Lelouch sighed. "My parents had arranged my marriage, kind of surprising really that my father didn't use Odysseus or Schneizel instead."

"So this whole pretend relationship thing…" C.C. started.

"We keep it up until I find a solution," Lelouch stopped her.

They reached the front of the line and C.C. ordered her usual amount of pizza and Lelouch just ordered a katsudon. He had never really bought anything from the cafeteria before. Everyone had already arrived at their usual place in the quad when they saw them, including Karin, Gino, and Anya. Gino had a sour look on his face and Anya was sitting between him and Kallen texting like usual.

"Well we should go back to playing couple now shouldn't we?" C.C. said.

"Just don't overdo it," Lelouch said.

"Just don't act surprised when I start doing what most couple would do for each other,"

"You seem to be really into this act witch…"

C.C. ignored him and hooked her arm around his, holding her plate of pizza with one hand.

It seemed like everyone knew the situation now and are playing along just fine. Instead of focusing on Lelouch and C.C., everyone focused their attention on Karin. Euphie flashed Lelouch a thumbs up when Karin was looking away.

Lelouch turned to Karin and a question that had been swimming around in the back of his mind surfaced. "Where are you staying anyways? You don't have family here do you?"

Karin turned to Lelouch, "oh, worried about me?"

"Not really," Lelouch replied coldly. "It would be troublesome if father had allowed you stay at our house."

"I know you'll miss me but no," Karin pouted. "I'm staying in the dorms."

"Oh yeah…" Lelouch had just remembered Ashford had dormitories.

Just then, Lelouch felt something greasy hit the side of his mouth and he looked to his right. C.C. was holding a slice of pizza up to his mouth. Lelouch looked at her confused for second before realizing what he was supposed to do. Lelouch's eye twitched, 'so this is what she meant when she said don't be surprised…' Lelouch thought irritably. He was beginning to think C.C. was using this to embarrass him because everyone was staring at them. Lelouch quickly took a bite but as he looked down, he saw the silver bracelet he bought for her on her wrist.

Before Lelouch had time to react, C.C. withdrew her hand and took a bite of the same slice of pizza. Lelouch just looked away when Euphie started giggling and tried to feed Suzaku from her lunchbox.

"C.C.!" someone yelled in the distance. "We finally get to meet again!"

They all looked around to the source and saw a young man their age with white hair running towards them. He was wearing shades and he had giant headphones on and wearing the male Ashford uniform.

"Mao…" C.C. sounded astonished and more surprised than Lelouch had ever heard her get before.

_A/N: obi is the sash that you wear around a yukata. That whole festival was supposed to be another chapter originally but I decided to cut it out and just make a mention of it here._

_Katsudon is a large bowl of rice with strips of fried chicken on it and stuff…_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: two straight Saturdays of going to play in the snow up in Shasta and Tahoe…so I haven't really been writing until now._

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass…**

**Chapter 16**

"So? What happened?" Milly asked as she locked the student council room door.

School had ended about an hour ago so most of the students has either gone home, went back to their dorms, gone out, or in the midst of club activities. Although this was not official student council business, Milly had called everyone to a meeting to discuss Lelouch's new fiancé whom. Gino, Anya, Euphie and Nunnally were there too since they would be needed to keep up the little ruse between Lelouch and C.C. This was probably the most serious meeting they've ever had.

Lelouch quickly recounted the events of his vacation and the details of the situation he was in. "And that's why I want everyone to pretend C.C. is my girlfriend for now," he finished.

"You disappoint me Lelouch…" Kallen commented from across the table.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Lelouch asked, slightly put off by her condescending tone.

"I don't know…I thought you would've come up with something better than this pretend-relationship thing," Kallen answered, sounding bored. "I have to miss lacrosse practice for this?"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Can't you just explain to Karin about this?" Shirley asked with concern, interrupting Lelouch and Kallen's little argument.

"Explain what? That I'm not interested?" Lelouch asked. "Yeah, tried that, didn't work."

"Arranged marriages do not take in the opinions of the couple soon-to-wed. You just have to learn to accept." Milly explained to no one in particular. "And obviously, Karin has accepted that fact way sooner than Lelouch has."

"You're talking like I should go through with it." Lelouch commented.

"No, I just think you and C.C. should start dating for real," Milly said as she jabbed Lelouch with a thin pointing rod.

"You're such a tease Milly," Lelouch replied sarcastically.

"But you know Lelouch, that Karin is pretty good looking though," Gino said leaning back on his chair and propped his feet on the beautiful table. "Reminds me of you actually, Madam President," Gino flashed Milly a smile.

"Thank you for the compliment Gino," Milly said sweetly, "but still, feet off the table please."

"If the president so commands," Gino replied in overly courteous tone.

"Gino, stop flirting with Milly. Thought you liked Kallen anyways," Lelouch said as he realized they were getting off topic. "So can everyone pretend that C.C. and I are dating?"

Rivalz took his eyes of menace from Gino and answered Lelouch, "Of course, you don't even need to ask."

Everyone else agreed with Rivalz as well. Lelouch has never really acknowledged his affections for his friends but at that moment, he realized just how important those people are to him; even Gino who had annoyed him so much the past few years and Anya who remained emotionless as ever as she texted away.

"Onii-sama, everyone, isn't this just bullying Karin-san?" Nunnally said. "I don't really agree with the marriage now either, but it's still wrong to bully someone."

"Nunnally…I have nothing against Karin, really." Lelouch said to his beloved little sister. "But sometimes drastic measures must be taken, so can I rely on you to help me?"

"…sure onii-sama," Nunnally said timidly.

"Don't guilt trip your own sister," C.C. muttered so only Lelouch heard her.

Lelouch ignored her and kept his attention on Nunnally, "thank you Nunnally, both parties will be happier at the end of this."

"If you say so…" Nunnally said.

"So from this day forth, we are bound a pact to keep Lelouch and C.C.'s dirty little secret!" Milly said enthusiastically and stretched her hand forward like athletes before the start of a game and gesturing for everyone to put their hands on top of hers. Rivalz instantly obliged but the others couldn't as the table was too big. Instead she said, "so, will everyone swear by this pact?" while Rivalz pulled back his hand, red faced.

"Wait…dirty little secret?!" Lelouch twitched a little at Milly's wording.

"Details Lelouch, details that you don't need to worry about." Milly said cheerfully.

Before Lelouch could retort, Suzaku interrupted him by saying, "That's all fine but is C.C. okay with this? _She_ will be the girlfriend after all."

"I'm fine with it," C.C. said in that ever-bored voice of hers. "This relationship might be beneficial to both of us."

"Are you talking about that Mao person?" Lelouch asked as he remembered the Chinese male during lunch earlier in the day. "Who is he anyways? Ex-boyfriend?"

"Hardly," C.C. answered. "You could say we're childhood friends..."

"What kind of a person is he?" Lelouch said with a hint of jealousy that he denied and blamed on a stressful day.

"I don't know," C.C. said as she propped her arm on the table with her elbow and laid her head on it, "haven't seen him in years so he might've changed, though he seems to be as clingy as ever."

Lelouch turned on Nina instead, "Nina, Mao's in your class right?"

"Ah…yeah," Nina said, surprised at being addressed so suddenly.

"What kind of person is he?" Lelouch asked.

"Um…well he's certainly different," Nina said, pointing a finger at her chin in a thinking pose. "He never takes off the headphones and sunglasses, even in class despite the teachers' warnings. He just turns on the teacher and starts psychoanalyzing them until the teacher leaves him alone, and he ignores the other students who try to talk to him."

"He was always anti-social," C.C. commented. "Although, I don't know what's up with the sunglasses and headphones."

"So what is he to you now?" Lelouch asked.

C.C. didn't answer immediately; instead she took her time before saying, "just an old acquaintance."

After some discussion they all agreed on one story concerning Lelouch and C.C. Lelouch took an interest to C.C. when she first transferred to Ashford and began to court her but she initially didn't think much of him. To their credit, they used a real event to back the story up, the charity event. After weeks of one-sided flirting, they were both attending the same charity event without knowing that either of them would be there. Lelouch naturally took this chance to court her again and C.C., getting annoyed with Lelouch's flirting allowed him one dance and they've been together ever since. The girls save for Kallen, were the ones who came up with most of the story, ignoring the guys', especially Lelouch's opinions. The rest of the school, especially Lelouch's fan girls, did not know enough about C.C. and Lelouch to begin with so this story could fool most of them as well.

"You're making me out to be 'The Wolf' here!" Lelouch yelled in anger.

And so, their pretend relationships kicked off with a start. To make it more convincing, Lelouch agreed to have his driver circle to Shinjuku to pick up C.C. every morning and took her home after school. Not that they don't already eat lunch together, they must now act more intimate with each other whenever possible. Such intimate moments included; holding hands whenever they go somewhere together, eat from each other's lunches, and just in case, they must be seen in public together so Lelouch has to take C.C. out on "dates" every now and then.

Kissing was more complicated as they were just a pretend couple, but since everyone believed them to be real, not kissing would be suspicious. Another one of those intimate moments were kissing each other on the cheeks whenever necessary, such as when they had to go different classrooms for specific classes. Lelouch had noted to Suzaku and Euphie that his fake relationship with C.C. was more intimate than theirs, but Euphie just assured him that what she has done with Suzaku has gone way beyond kissing. When Lelouch asked what she meant, she didn't answer and Suzaku looked away shamefully.

It didn't take long for word of Lelouch and C.C.'s pretend-relationship to spread around. Of course, when one of the most popular guys in the school gets a girlfriend, it became the primary topic of gossip amongst the female population in the school. A few of Lelouch's more "devoted" fan girls seemed to have started a little gang to harass C.C. She had apparently been taking care of the situation without Lelouch's knowledge that she's being bullied. He did not find out about the gang of girls until he caught them in action. Needless to say, they did not give up.

Karin's initial suspicions seemed to have disappeared but true to her words, she hasn't missed a chance to flirt with Lelouch. Mao on the hand just seemed to follow C.C. everywhere, despite the fact that everyone in Ashford believed that Lelouch and C.C. together, he still clung to the delusion that C.C. loves him.

Lelouch and C.C. had stayed behind for a student council meeting so most of the students, including Lelouch's sisters had already gone home. As their pretend-relations requires, Lelouch has to take C.C. home everyday so he called his driver. Lelouch took her hand in his as they left the student council room and he took out his phone with the other hand. Lelouch blushed every time they held hands initially but as time progressed; he had gotten used to it and just seemed like a routine by now. They did not have to wait long for the driver since he was waiting a block away from the school. Though they did not meet Karin or Mao on their way out, they did not and could not see Mao watching them from his dormitory window.

"Yo, Young Master," his driver Tamaki, greeted enthusiastically as he pulled up; "and how's the future mistress doing?" Tamaki quickly got out to open the door for the two.

"Good evening Tamaki," Lelouch said. C.C. had entered the car without a word.

As the car started moving, Lelouch raised the barrier between the front and back of the car for privacy like usual. He then turned to C.C. "I've been wondering for a while, how did you and Mao meet?"

"Why do you ask?" C.C. asked, turning to face him as well.

"Just curious," Lelouch replied. "He's been following you around hasn't he?"

"What? Worried?" C.C. smirked.

Lelouch stayed silent for several seconds before saying, "you could say that."

C.C. looked out of the tinted windows again and stayed silent for a whole minute before answering, "My parents travels all over the world you know, international business people like your father except they don't stay in one place very long." She was still looking out the window as she continued. "When I was little, we stayed in Hong Kong for several years…and that's where I met Mao. We were neighbors, I was the foreign girl in town whom barely knew any Chinese and Mao was an outcast amongst the other kids so we naturally got along. Mao was happy to finally have a friend and I was happy too I guess."

"Sounds like two normal kids," Lelouch commented.

"Unlike Mao, the other children did not pick on me and I was able to make other friends. Mao was happy just to have me and didn't try to open up to the other kids which led to more bullying." C.C. continued. "I defended him of course and told him many times to try and make new friends but he didn't listen and that's how he became so clingy. My girlfriends didn't mind him because they found it funny how loyal he was to me and would often use him to do things. I was young and either I did not know that they were using him, or I eventually joined in, Mao continued to be picked on."

"And he's still so loyal…" Lelouch said sarcastically.

"Eventually, I moved again and that was the last I saw of him." C.C. finished.

"So what, you just abandoned him?" Lelouch asked without emotion.

"I guess you can say that…yeah."

"How did he find you here? And after so many years?"

"I don't know…coincidence?" C.C. shrugged. "He was pretty smart and didn't Milly say he was here on an international exchange scholarship?"

"Or he could've been tracking you."

"Lelouch, that's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said…"

"Oh?" Lelouch gave an I-know-something-you-don't smirk. "I checked the schools admissions log and…"

"Can you do that?" C.C. interrupted.

"Being the student council vice president and a close friend of the president who's the granddaughter of the principal helps, and computer hacking skills," Lelouch said, and continued. "Anyways, I checked Mao's file. He did have excellent grades but he could've gone to other schools way better than Ashford. Also, he did not express any interest in Japan at all in his admissions essay and even if he did, why come to a school designated for foreign kids."

"You're over thinking things…" C.C. said simply.

They had arrived outside of C.C.'s apartment by now and Tamaki opened the door for C.C. to get off. "I'll walk you up," Lelouch offered.

When the two arrived at C.C.'s front door, C.C. turned to Lelouch. "Don't worry about Mao. He may seem a bit obsessive but he was a nice and harmless kid." C.C. leaned up and kissed Lelouch on the cheek. "Nobody's watching…that was unnecessary huh?"

"No, I rather enjoy them now." Lelouch said, though C.C. could not tell if he was joking. As C.C. closed the door, Lelouch started walking away. "Like you said…he WAS nice and harmless."

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_A/N: This chapter was kind of hard to write for some reason…and really corny…and short. I think the chapters ahead will get harder to write._

_I'm not sure if I got the term right, but 'The Wolf" is a term referred to men in the 1930s and 1940s who go around picking up women and have sex with them…most of them were soldiers about to be shipped out to war…History Channel FTW…_


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N: I have no excuse. All I have to say for myself is laziness and writer's block. Read my update entries on my page for more details I'll make up with some romantic fluff…_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 17:**

The white curtains fluttered as the crisp autumn wind blew into the spacious student council meeting room, which was lit orange from the setting sun. The school was quiet as most of the students had left and went home or went back to the dorms already, but a certain blond third year was still hanging around. Milly Ashford sat idly at the head of the conference table; laptop opened and turned on in front of her. She pushed herself from the table and started spinning on the comfortable black leather office chair she was sitting on, a smile on her face. With the arrival of Mao and Karin, things have become quite interesting; and Milly can't help but feel excited about what the next several months will bring. Looks like her last semester will be quite enjoyable.

---

Lelouch paced across his room in quick and agitated steps, stopping occasionally by the window to look down at the dark courtyard of his family's large estate. He could just make out the large metal gates at the end of the long pathway, dimly lit by small lights. Karin had told his parents about him and C.C…he had wanted to keep his parents out of this but realized it was futile as they would eventually find out when he destroys their plan of forcing him to get married.

So they had invited C.C. over for dinner after finding out that she was the cousin of Nunnally's friend, Nemo; and to make matters worse, Karin was also invited. His father obviously suspected something going on.

Lelouch tugged at collar of the white dress shirt he was wearing. Despite this being a dinner in his home, he felt dressing up was necessary. Besides, he told C.C. to wear the best dress she has, so it would be odd if he won't dress up. Karin would most likely try to upstage C.C. by dressing up as well.

Another reason for his nervousness was the fact that Tamaki, their driver, was picking both of them up together. C.C. has always seemed calm and not easily provoked but Lelouch was not too sure on what Karin was capable of. Let's hope they get here in one piece.

Lelouch can think of over ten scenarios and how to counter them when it comes to chess, but women was a whole other field he did not understand.

Lelouch finally got tired of pacing and sat down in front of his desk. He pushed himself and the chair away from his desk towards his window with his foot, the chair spun a little before reaching the window. The black haired teen continued to look out of the window, not knowing why he was this worried. Sure the occasion warranted trouble but Lelouch had never worried this much over something like this…but then again, he had never exactly dealt with something like this before.

'Is this what it's like to introduce your girlfriend to your family for approval?' Lelouch thought to himself. Realizing what had just crossed his mind, he shook his head as if throwing the thought out of his mind. "I'm just worried about her performance in front of my father, yeah that's it." He said aloud to assure himself.

"Talking to yourself is a beginning sign of insanity, Onii-sama." a sweet voice floated into his room, pulling Lelouch out of his thoughts.

"And where did you learn that, Nunnally?" Lelouch asked as he turned to face the door. His little sister was wearing a light pink dress, not too formal, but enough for tonight as this did not directly concern her.

"Its common sense," Nunnally said as she walked into his room and sat on the right side of his bed. "Are you nervous?"

"About what?" the elder sibling asked, turning back to the window.

"About C.C.-san meeting mother and father of course," the fourteen year-old said as she lay down on the bed.

"Why would I be?"

"I think C.C.-san will be," Nunnally said, fully aware of the fact that her brother was lying through his teeth.

"Well she shouldn't," Lelouch replied, not being able to imagine the green haired witch nervous. "We're merely pretending until this whole farce is over."

"I wonder if you guys really are pretending…" and with that, Nunnally hopped off the bed and sauntered out of his room.

Lelouch returned to gazing out of his window, pondering his baby sister's words. It's almost been a month since they've been doing this and though the two agreed that this was only an act, Lelouch couldn't help but enjoy their 'act' more than he should. Perhaps this has gone beyond acting and the actors themselves did not even realize it.

Lights approaching the gate caught Lelouch's attention as he was broken out of his reverie, and the gate opened as a black Mercedes drove up the pathway. The teen stood up but continued to stare down at the approaching vehicle through his window. Soon the car reached the front of his house and Tamaki came out to open the back passenger doors. A wave of neon green hair appeared and unmistakable form of C.C. exited the car. The light was too dim outside for Lelouch to make out anything other than C.C.'s bright hair but as he stared, C.C. looked up towards his direction. The only light on in his room was the lamp on his desk so he wasn't sure if she could actually see him.

Sighing, Lelouch stepped away from the window and exited his room.

Walking down the grand staircase, Lelouch was just in time to see the front doors open. C.C. and Karin entered the large entryway of the mansion, Sayoko closing the doors behind them. Karin was wearing a pretty conservative blue dress that went down all the way to her feet, a light blue shawl covering her shoulders. C.C. on the other hand, was wearing a simple crimson red, knee length, spaghetti strap dress that accentuated her curves perfectly. She left her hair down this time.

Lelouch couldn't help but blush at little at the sight of C.C. He walked down the stairs to greet the two girls, who seemed to be politely ignoring each other. Karin ran up to give Lelouch a big hug which Lelouch returned tentatively while looking away, C.C. just watched and waited patiently.

"Thank you so much for inviting me over Lelouch!" Karin squealed excitedly, she began looking around the room.

"Uh no, this was my father's idea…" Lelouch said, wanting to clear any and all possible misunderstandings.

Karin ignored that and continued, "Your mansion is way bigger than my family's, is that an original Picasso?" she was pointing at the painting on the right wall.

"Hey Karin, let me show you around!" Euphie said as she skipped down the steps toward the three.

"Eh but…" Karin started but Euphie had cut her off.

"Come on," Euphie said cheerfully and pushed her away. The pink haired teen looked back towards Lelouch and winked.

Pretending not to notice Euphie's little action, Lelouch turned towards C.C. "Sorry about that."

"What are you talking about?" she asked nonchalantly as she walked up to him.

"Never mind…" Lelouch replied and before he could stop himself, "You look great in that dress by the way."

C.C. didn't say anything as she stiffened at his comment and instead, looked up at him with her golden eyes. Expression inscrutable. The silence dragged on and it felt like an hour to Lelouch before C.C. replied with a simple, "thank you".

Lelouch could only look away in embarrassment as he tried to break the awkward silence that descended upon them. They had been pretend-dating for over a month now and exchanged compliments like this in public but in private, it didn't sound pretend anymore.

Their awkwardness was finally broken, not by either of them, but by Lelouch's mother as she walked down the grand staircase behind them. "Ah, you must be my precious Lulu's girlfriend."

C.C. looked towards Marianne before turning back to Lelouch to say, "Lulu? I thought that was Shirley's nickname for you."

"Where did you think Shirley got it from?" Lelouch sighed.

C.C. turned back to Marianne as she approached the pair, "My name is C.C. It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Lamperouge."

"Oh, just call me Marianne." The mother simpered cheerfully. "And is C.C. your initials or a nickname?"

"It's just what I prefer to be called," C.C. replied.

"Hm," Marianne suddenly got serious as she took in C.C.'s face. "You look really familiar."

"Really?"

"I'm pretty sure we've never met before," Marianne said, cupping her chin in her hand. "You're little Nemo's cousin right?"

"That's right," C.C. replied, confused.

Lelouch, not knowing what's going on, decided to it was best to move on. Despite his dread, he wanted this night to be over as quickly as possible. "So where's father?"

"Oh you didn't know?" his mother turned her attention to her son. "Your father went out for a quick meeting, but he'll be back in time. He seemed really interested in your girlfriend."

"Oh…great," Lelouch replied, sarcasm clearly laced his voice.

"Well why don't you show C.C. around while we wait?" his mother suggested.

Lelouch took up on suggestion and placed his hand on the small of her back as he led her away. He glanced back and saw that his mother still had that inquisitive look on her face. Wondering what her mother meant, Lelouch led C.C. up the grand staircase to start the tour upstairs.

As Lelouch walked C.C. around, Nunnally was nowhere to be seen. He showed C.C. where Nunnally's, Euphie's, and his room were, but he did not let her in except opening the door briefly to prove that a guy's room was not always a mess. However, she instead said his room was boring. They relaxed at the spacious lounge on the second floor, where a large grand piano sat in a corner, waiting to be played. Lelouch and Nunnally took lessons as children but only practiced sparingly nowadays. The two teens walked around upstairs some more, stopping to gaze through the windows that faced the large garden in their backyard. They were passing the guest rooms when two female voices reached their ears. Lelouch instantly recognized them as Euphie and Karin and instinctively grabbed C.C., opened the nearest door and pulled her in, closing the door. It was a storage closet where Sayoko kept her house cleaning products and equipment. The voices passed them and as they faded around the corner and Lelouch sighed in relief.

"Um…the hem of me dress is going to get dirty," C.C. said, her voice somewhat muffled.

Taking a look around, Lelouch just realized where they were and how cramped it was in there. C.C. was pressed up against his chest; the arm he used to pull her in was now wrapped around her shoulders while he pushed against the opposite wall with his free arm.

"Ah, sorry," Lelouch kicked the bucket of cleaning supplies by her legs off to the side.

"So why are we in here?" she asked, tilting her head up to look at Lelouch. It was dark, so there wasn't much to see though C.C. could still make out his violet eyes.

Lelouch paused to think about the question a little, "I didn't want to face Karin I guess."

"Well she's gone now."

"Yeah..." However, they stayed in that position. Despite the darkness, C.C.'s golden eyes and neon green hair still managed to glow, or maybe it was Lelouch's eyes playing tricks on him as he looked down at her.

Their faces started inching closer. Lelouch didn't know what force was driving his face down towards the green haired girl's face. He leaned down slightly as she felt C.C. straightened up and as their face came ever closer, their eyes started to close. Their lips were practically touching now, brushing each other.

Suddenly bright lights filled the room as the door was opened. Lelouch quickly snapped out of his trance and turned to see Sayoko standing there, looking at them. The three were silent as they stared at each other for a whole minute before Sayoko broke the silence, "I'm sorry for disturbing you Lelouch-sama, but I just need to grab a broom and a dustpan and you two can continue whatever it was you were doing."

Quickly realizing what's going on, Lelouch scrambled out of the small storage room, pulling C.C. with him. They dusted off their clothes with their hands and they stood flustered as Sayoko grabbed the said items. "We weren't doing what you think we were," Lelouch quickly said, thinking that silence would not help his case.

"Good, because your father's home." Sayoko said, closing the storage room door. "Besides, there are plenty of guestrooms if you didn't want to do it in your room Lelouch-sama, why a storage closet?"

"Like I said," Lelouch retorted back. "It's not what it looks like."

"Whatever you say Lelouch-sama," Sayoko replied as she walked away. "Though you two should fix your hair before coming down, there are extra brushes in the bathrooms."

The two of them fixed themselves up in silence and headed back downstairs. His father was indeed home and Sayoko was cleaning a broken vase at the base of the stairs, with Karin and Euphie apologizing profusely. Nunnally was standing by her half sister laughing weakly. Karin noticed Lelouch and C.C. coming down and turned her attention to them as they approached.

"Where have you been Lelouch?" Karin pouted. "And why do you smell like bleach? C.C. too?"

Lelouch and C.C. took a look at each other and turned to Karin, saying in unison, "I don't know what you're talking about."

---

And so, dinner was served. The seating arrangement came out with Lelouch sitting between Karin and C.C., with Nunnally and Euphie sitting across from them. Filet Mignon and Foie Gras was served, a small piece of meat with a bite of various veggies and lots of sauce for decorative purposes; high class eating, where beauty is more important than a full stomach. At least they didn't eat like this every night, only when there are guests and his father needed to show off his status.

Small conversation permeated the room. Karin was talking cheerfully with his father and mother while Lelouch only talked when talked to. C.C. remained politely quiet as well, answering the questions his father fired at her in perfect composure, occasionally asking a few questions herself.

Meanwhile, Nunnally and Euphie watched the exchange from their side of the table. Nunnally thought it was her imagination at first, but her brother's eyes were definitely flitting back and forth between his plate of filet mignon to C.C. The green haired teen seemed to have noticed too as she would occasionally turn to look at Lelouch as he quickly returned his gaze to his plate. Euphie giggled and Nunnally looked up at her half sister, they winked at each other to show that they both noticed.

As dinner progressed, things were going pretty smoothly. Lelouch relaxed a little as the night ticked away. Although, one thing was still bothering him and it remained his mind the entire night. What happened in the storage closet was so unexpected and his boldness surprised him. Lelouch did not know what possessed him to kiss – or attempted to kiss since he wasn't sure if it would be considered a kiss if their lips just brushed each other – the green haired witch. Sure they've "kissed" before but that was all an act and it was all on the cheek. What happened a few moments ago was the real thing. He glanced over at C.C. occasionally to see how she's reacting to it but all he saw was the same composed face.

Lelouch was broken out of his thoughts by his mother, "ah now I remember!" Marianne suddenly said. Charles looked at his wife with a mixture of irritation and confusion. Marianne continued, "Is your mother's name Jeanne, C.C.?"

C.C. looked up at Marianne and answered politely, "Ah, yes, how did you know?"

"I knew it," Marianne exclaimed. "You're the spitting image of your mother, down to even your eye and hair color; though Jeanne's hair was quite short. How did I not recognize it?"

"You knew my mother?" C.C. asked.

"Sort of," Marianne said. "We were friends during high school but I haven't seen her since graduation."

"You know her Marianne?" Charles asked his inquisitively.

"Not her, just her mother." Marianne answered her husband, and then turned back to C.C… "I never thought I'd meet her daughter like this."

After that little exchange, Marianne showered C.C. with questions about her mother, like where she was now or what she's been doing over the years. Karin looked quite frustrated that Marianne only seemed to be paying attention to C.C. Lelouch just sat there thinking about all that's happened so far. So his mother knew C.C.'s mother, which was unexpected.

Dinner was over and Lelouch breathed an audible sigh of relief. The night had gone by without much incident, not counting the storage closet thing. It wasn't so hard since they really couldn't do many of the things a couple should do anyways, as this was a proper dinner. Although, to complete the ruse; Lelouch kissed C.C. on the cheek in front of his father at the door. C.C. blushed, which was odd because she never blushed when they did this. That caused Lelouch to blush slightly as well. Karin just watched on jealously.

When the girls left, Tamaki driving them home, Charles approached his son. They didn't look at each other but stood side-by-side looking at the door. "So that's your girlfriend huh?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, what of it?" Lelouch replied coolly.

"You two didn't seem very affectionate," Charles commented.

"The atmosphere was too stifling for affection," Lelouch said, and just to leave his father wondering, he added, "we're _very_ affectionate in private." putting emphasis on 'very'.

Lelouch left his father where he was and went upstairs. Charles seemed unfazed by that comment as he headed into his study. When Lelouch arrived at his room, he found Euphie and Nunnally sitting on his bed, waiting for him.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the chair at his desk.

"Just wondering how you were doing," Euphie said, leaning forward on the board at the end of his bed.

"What?"

"Sayoko told me," Nunnally said cheerfully.

Lelouch quickly got up and ran to his door, checking to see that no one is near; he closed the door and locked it. "Whatever she said, it's not true." Lelouch said, trying to keep his voice down.

"Of course not," Euphie said, disbelief clear in her voice.

"Besides, we've noticed that you keep glancing at C.C.-san all through dinner." Nunnally added.

"That was…I was just checking if she's keeping her act together." Lelouch said lamely.

"But why a storage closet when there so many guestrooms near you guys?" Euphie asked.

"I told you," Lelouch exasperatedly. "It's nothing like that."

"Lelouch," Euphie said seriously. "Out of all three of us, I have the most experience when it comes to dating."

"So?"

"So I can tell when you've actually fallen for her."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't you remember Lelouch?" Euphie asked with a knowing look. "The talk you had with Suzaku about me. It went exactly like this right?"

"He told you?"

"Of course he did, we keep no secrets."

"That was advice as his best friend, I also warned him as your older brother as well." Lelouch said, remembering the time before Suzaku and Euphie started dating.

"Onii-sama isn't the type to admit to his feelings so easily," Nunnally said getting up. "At least not to others anyways, so let's just leave him to think about it."

His sisters left the room and closed the door, leaving Lelouch to ponder their words. He thought about all the times he spent with the green haired witch from when they first met to now. He thought about how different she was compared to other girls, how she intrigued him. Lelouch finally thought about what happened a few hours ago in the storage closet and the thoughts running through his mind at the time. He finally chuckled out loud.

"You checkmated me witch, I've fallen for you." He said to the air.

---

C.C. was looking for her keys in the pocket of his jacket as she walked across the hall towards her apartment so she didn't notice the white haired figure standing by her door. When she finally looked up, she stopped where she was. Mao was standing outside her door and for whatever reason, was clapping as she approached.

"Welcome home C.C." Mao said happily.

"What are you doing here? More importantly, how did you find this place?" C.C. asked her old friend.

"You wouldn't believe how easy it was to hack into the school's student files." Mao said as he walked closer. "Did you enjoy dinner at the Lamperouge's place?"

"That's stalking Mao," C.C. replied coolly. "I can call the police on you."

"But you won't," Mao said. "You used to love the attention I gave you."

"We were children then."

"But you loved me right?"

"I don't care; I'll let you go this once." C.C. said and walked to her door. "I'll call the police next time if you come here again."

"You fell for that Lelouch guy haven't you?" Mao said.

C.C. stopped as she walked past him.

"I was always able to read people's emotions but with you it was different," Mao said melodramatically. "However, your emotions this time are clearly written on your face."

C.C. opened her door quickly and stepped inside, but before she closed it, Mao waved at her saying, "See you at school!"

_A/N: Things happened recently that killed my mood to write again…let's just say I've reaffirmed my hate for my dad's side of the family. I don't feel like defending Karin in this chapter. For more details, read the rant I posted on my profile._

_C.C. was supposedly Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc in French) in the Code Geass universe. I tried not to talk about her family much here but it seemed inevitable. Joan of Arc did not have neon green hair in real life (who does?) and golden eyes, I just needed some similarities between the two._


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N: copious amounts of Modern Warfare 2 cause headaches…all the shooting, yelling, and general chaos…and add a slight pinch of insanity…my current state-of-mind_

_---_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 18**

As the days progressed, the first of Milly's "last year at school" events came around the corner and preparation began in earnest. Being the spoiled heiress that she was, she quickly got permission from her grandfather who was the chairman of Ashford Academy. The only reason she was allowed to organize such expensive events was the fact that Ashford was a private school with private funding.

Halloween was not even well-known in Japan but being a western cultured school; the students would know about it and celebrate it…to some extent. Lelouch remembered the first Halloween he spent in Japan as a child. He, Nunnally, and Suzaku (after they had explained it to him) tried to go trick-or-treating only to be greeted with confused faces. Since then, they only begged candy from their parents until they grew out of it. Besides, the Japanese has their own version of Halloween with very different traditions, the Obon Festival. Well…the original way to celebrate Halloween was like the Obon Festival right? It was just commercialization that turned it into a candy begging, costume wearing holiday…like Christmas.

So to celebrate the day of fright, Milly planned a Fright Fest. How appropriate. The plan was to turn the entire school into one huge haunted house, complete with smoke machines, lighting and sound effects of course. It was classified as a school festival, only that it takes place at night, so the public is allowed to participate. They seemed to be having a lot of those lately. The main event will be finished with a student-only costume-after-party with a giant bonfire where they could show off their costumes. So…this was not going to be any different than regular culture festivals that public schools held.

Milly's love for themed festivals seemed insatiable and the rest of the student council would have to suffer for it. Lelouch should have gotten used to it by now but he can't help but feel irritated over this. Ever since coming true to his feelings, it has been a little nerve racking to be so close to C.C. They still have to keep up their act but he seemed to be losing his naturalness, as his dear sister Euphie pointed out.

Class was over for the day but with the Halloween event coming up, the student council would be staying for hours after school for the next month to plan everything. Lelouch was on his way to the various storage rooms around the school to take inventory of supplies so Shirley can start ordering the necessary items. They were trying to see what they can reuse so they don't have to order everything anew. Suzaku came along to help as it would probably involve lifting heavy objects.

"You seem to be acting a bit strange around C.C. lately," Suzaku said casually.

"Did you hear from Euphie?" Lelouch asked with a sigh.

"Yes but I had already noticed long before she said anything," Suzaku answered, turning to face his best friend. "How long have we known each other?"

Lelouch stayed silent for moment before saying, "I suppose there would be no point in denying it to you."

"What's up?" Suzaku asked, his voice signaled the obvious perk up of interest.

Lelouch glared at his best friend with an irritated look before continuing, "I think…no…I've begun…hm…how should I say this?"

Suzaku looked on expectantly.

"I like C.C." Lelouch said simply.

"Be more specific Lelouch," Suzaku said.

"I've begun to like C.C. as more than what I usually saw her as," Lelouch replied. "I wouldn't say its love, too early but it's definitely something more than what we are now."

"I knew it," Suzaku smiled and slapped his best friend hard on the back as Lelouch winced in pain.

"Then why did you ask?" Lelouch said through gritted teeth, trying to reach the spot Suzaku had slapped him to massage it.

"I just wanted to hear it from your own mouth," Suzaku replied simply.

"Whatever."

They reached the first of the storage rooms and began sifting through the boxes of stuff that's probably been there for years. The two were soon covered in a cloud of dust so they pulled their shirts up to cover their faces. Their conversation afterward became slightly muffled. While Suzaku did the heavy lifting, Lelouch took a seat on one of the boxes and opened another to count whatever was inside. He was always the administrative type.

"So what are you going to do now, Lelouch?" Suzaku said, voice muffled by his shirt.

"About what," Lelouch asked, voice also muffled? He opened a box to find it full of woven baskets. He began counting them as he wondered when they'd ever had a need for baskets.

"About C.C. of course…"

"Since when did you become so nosy about other people's love lives?" Lelouch coughed a little as some dust got through his shirt-mask.

"A relationship changes a person," Suzaku answered, readjusting his shirt to better cover his face. "You'll know soon enough. In fact, I think you've already begun changing."

A cloud of dust erupted up into the air when Suzaku dropped the box he was carrying rather hard on the ground. The two of them waved their hands in front of their faces to clear the air.

"Is that advice from my best friend or my sister's boyfriend?" Lelouch asked.

"Both."

After another grueling hour, the two of them finished taking inventory of whatever was in that storage room, only to move on to another room somewhere else on campus.

C.C. was with Milly in the student council room; huddled over a bunch of papers, blueprints, and various other marked material. The two of them were responsible for designing the decorations and coming up with the pranks that will be all over the campus, figured that the two most devious girls of the student council were up to the task. Kallen and Shirley were with the lacrosse and swimming club respectively that day, while Nina did her usual thing on the laptop and Rivalz had to go to work.

The two were currently attempting to come up with ideas for possible scares to include in the school wide haunted house. The usual fake spider web and eerie lighting was decided without mention but unlike a regular haunted house where it was limited to a classroom like during the cultural festivals, there were so much more possibilities in this.

"How about we ask the gardening club to make pit traps?" C.C. suggested.

"Noted!" Milly scribbled it on the whiteboard behind them.

Of course…not all of their ideas would be used.

"We can have horse-riding club parade around as headless horsemen or mangled zombie knights!" Milly squealed as she wrote down her idea on the whiteboard.

"A room full of mirrors with black lights…" C.C. thought aloud and Milly wrote.

"Rooms based on the movies Ringu and Ju-On…" Milly wrote.

"Maybe we can get make Karin play the parts of the creepy hair girls," C.C. blurted out nonchalantly.

"Oh, a little jealousy" Milly said turning her attention to C.C. "I've never heard you say something in spite before."

C.C. didn't say anything, just reverted her face back to her usual bored expression as she looked out the window.

"So what's been happening between you and Lelouch?" Milly cooed, scooting closer to C.C.

"Nothing in particular," C.C. answered simply.

"You guys never told us how that dinner went?" Milly said, referring the night C.C. went to Lelouch's house. "And Lelouch refuses to say anything."

"Well there isn't anything to say…"

"Oh come on, the fiancé and secret lover meeting the parents together…that's the basis of drama!"

"You're just over thinking things."

"You guys are boring," Milly pouted.

"Fine, if you really want to know something, Lelouch's mother knows my mother apparently," C.C. replied. No one calls her boring.

"Interesting, were they good friends?"

"No idea, I've never heard my mother mentioned Lelouch's mother before."

"But now you have a connection to Lelouch's family!" Milly squealed excitedly. "You stand a better chance."

"There's nothing between me and Lelouch."

"Of course there isn't," Milly's voice was laced heavily with disbelief.

"We're only acting as Lelouch so often emphasizes."

"That's because he sucks at expressing his feelings."

C.C. stared at the blond for being so blunt.

"I've known him longer than you have," Milly explained. "My family and his mother's family have been longtime business partners."

"Childhood friends huh…"

"I'll say this," Milly winked at C.C. "Lelouch as a serious sister complex, especially towards Nunnally. So try and gain Nunnally's approval first."

"Like I said, there's nothing between us."

"Riiiiiiight…" Milly drawled.

Over the next few weeks, things had become much more hectic. Mao and Karin had volunteered to help the student council and Milly was obligated to let them since they needed the extra hand anyways. They were just not officially inducted into the student council. Mao proved helpful as anything C.C. says, he'll do. Karin on the other hand would try to get jobs where she can be as close to Lelouch as possible. Milly being wised to such motives, would put her with Shirley and Kallen.

As the days progressed, the campus and the buildings were taking the shape of a giant haunted house. All that for a one day event? The teachers had learned over the years to tolerate their boss's eccentric granddaughter so they merely ignored the plastic spiders hanging from their doors and bats hanging from the ceilings. They had yet to put in the lights, curtains, veils, smoke machines, and other contraptions as that would have hindered everyone traversing the halls. Also they needed more manpower.

The core members of the student council were relaxing in their meeting room after several hours of hard labor. They had just finished unloading the things they ordered and boxes were stacked along one of the walls.

"What's everyone going to wear for their costume?" Milly asked randomly.

"Haven't thought about it yet," Shirley responded as she looked up at their president from the crooks of her arm which were laid on the table.

"I don't know," Rivalz said.

Nina looked up from her laptop and just shrugged.

"Been too busy to give it much thought," Suzaku said.

"Do we have to?" Lelouch asked.

"I rather not wear a costume," Kallen said.

C.C. didn't say anything.

"What?!?! How can you not wear a costume on Halloween? It's tradition!" Milly exclaimed.

"No it isn't," Lelouch said.

"Well I'm going to implement a new rule then." Milly said. "All students must wear a costume that day, even during school!"

"You can't do that!" Kallen yelled in shock. "What about the dress code?"

"Special exemption for Halloween," Milly said simply.

"Can you do that without the principal's permission?" Lelouch asked.

"Don't worry about that, daddy always listens to me."

"What if you don't want to wear a costume?" Kallen asked. "You can't force the students who just doesn't want to do it."

"Whoever doesn't wear one will have their club funding cut!" Milly exclaimed. "Since you're required to be in a club at Ashford…"

"That's blackmail!"

"Kallen, as captain of the lacrosse club, you wouldn't want to be responsible for a budget cut right?" Milly said sweetly.

Kallen looked on in disbelief.

"Oh come on," Milly said. "It doesn't have to be anything extravagant or scary, though it would be preferred. Just something simple will do…school uniforms, sports uniforms, work uniforms, will not count…except maid outfits."

"You're asking too much Milly," Lelouch sighed.

"Nonsense," Milly said, and then turned to the green haired girl sitting next to Lelouch. "C.C., what are you going to wear?"

"I don't know yet…" C.C. replied.

"You're going to actually do it?" Lelouch turned to the girl.

"Come on Lulu," Shirley said, from across the table. "It'll be fun!"

Shirley still hasn't stopped calling Lelouch by his old nickname.

"Being part of the student council, you're obligated to participate to the fullest!" Milly exclaimed. "And I expect effort put into your costume, I don't want to see you cover yourself with a white sheet with holes!"

"Come on Lelouch, you used to be pretty excited about Halloween as a kid." Suzaku said, joining the president.

"That's it, we were kids." Lelouch replied.

"You're never too old to play dress-up," Milly said.

"Yeah I'm sure you're not." Lelouch said sarcastically.

Milly turned her attention back to Kallen, "guests are allowed so you can bring certain _company _if you want. And I'll grant him special permission to stay for the after party!"

"Like hell he'll do this!" Kallen retorted.

"I'm just saying…"

"Lelouch, you know Milly will just force you to do it eventually and you won't even get to choose your costume." C.C. said to him. "So while you can still at least pick what you want to wear, agree to it."

Lelouch saw the reasoning behind that. For some reason, Milly had always forced him to go along with her eccentricities in the end. Begrudgingly, he agreed with C.C. and said to Milly, "Fine, I'll do it."

"Yay!"

---

_A/N: Obon is a festival that takes place in July/August/September (depending on which region of Japan you're in) that honors the dead, if I strip it down to its bare basics for a short author's note. If you're Mexican, you might compare it to the day of the dead._

_Here's how I see it…Milly's grandfather is the chairman of the Ashford's various businesses and her father is the principal of the school._

_A bit of a short chapter._


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N The Hunger Games Twilight. Period. Do not compare the two. Yeah, I've been reading a lot lately it seems, along with the end of the semester, and my creative muse just left me, I couldn't write. School ended but it seems my future will be plagued with problems but I'll try my best!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass, or do I own what Lelouch dresses up as, or any of the costumes used.**

**Chapter 19**

October 30th, the day before Halloween, the great Ashford Academy haunted house has finished construction. Desperately needing manpower, Milly had bribed a few clubs with extra funding so they would help out with the decorating. Having the Engineering Society deal with the smoke machines and the Ashford Theater Troupe taking care of lighting and sound effects really made the Student Council's job a lot easier. Milly had also managed to recruit an army of student volunteers to do the manual labor as well so the Student Council really ended up just having to administer tasks. Just like a regular festival.

Since Lelouch decided to willingly wear a costume to honor the day, he felt he should give it his all. He has always enjoyed the theatrics. He had already made a special order for a replica of one his favorite childhood comic book heroes' costumes.

Despite Lelouch's prodding, C.C. had not revealed her costume to him. She merely said it's not anything extraordinary, rather it was extremely ordinary, but she would not confirm any of Lelouch's guesses. He was now making an effort at flirting with her though he did not know if it was working as she remained as impassive as ever.

Frustrated by C.C.'s lack of responsiveness, Lelouch took to teasing Kallen about her boyfriend. Call it revenge for all the teasing he's gone through and Kallen was his only viable target. Milly seemed tease-proof as she takes everything in stride, Rivalz's crush on Milly had gotten old, Suzaku and Euphie has gotten used to being teased by Milly, Shirley would be awkward, and Nina was uninteresting and Lelouch had an inkling suspicion that she might be homosexual and that would be wrong to tease her about.

"So what are you going to wear tomorrow?" Lelouch asked casually as they finished up the last of the reports in the student council room. Milly had left him and Kallen to finish up the paperwork and C.C. had already gone home.

"None of your business," Kallen replied.

"So cold…" Lelouch sighed. "How did that boy fall for you?"

"Are you saying I'm unattractive?" Kallen snapped back.

"Hardly…" Lelouch said suggestively as he looked her over, before bursting into laughter as Kallen tried to cover herself with her arms. "I'm just playing with you."

"Screw you…"

"I don't think your boyfriend would like that," Lelouch returned with a smirk.

Lelouch felt a slight movement under the table and realized that Kallen was trying to kick him in the shins. She was sitting opposite Lelouch and the table was quite wide so her legs did not reach.

"So what's with you and C.C.," Kallen asked, finally giving up trying to play footsies with the boy.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you made any progress?"

Lelouch looked on in silent confusion.

"Oh please, did you think that your attempts to flirt with her were inconspicuous?" Kallen said with a chuckle.

"Then you think she noticed?" Lelouch asked uncertainly.

"Probably."

"Damn…" Lelouch muttered. Her unresponsiveness was a bad sign then, but then again, she did kiss him that one time.

"Are you…blushing?" Kallen asked before laughing. "I never thought I'd see you blush!"

"Is it so weird?" Lelouch looked away in embarrassment.

"From you? Yes." Kallen answered. "What are you thinking of? You better not be having dirty thoughts about C.C.….or me?" Kallen's expression turned back to a mask of anger.

"Don't flatter yourself," Lelouch answered trying to sound as serious as possible.

"All kidding aside, you're quite bad with girls aren't you, Lelouch?" Kallen said. "And all this time, I thought you were a playboy."

"Why does everyone think that!" Lelouch exclaimed.

"Probably because half the school's female population likes you," Kallen stated. "I never figured out why, you're smart and everything but when it comes to athletics, you're worse than some of the girls in PE class."

"Thanks…" Lelouch replied sarcastically.

"Well I'm done with my stack," Kallen said suddenly and got up leave. "Good luck, Lelouch." Kallen waved from the door before closing it and leaving Lelouch alone in the student council room with his thoughts.

Lelouch shot up at the sound of his alarm going off and stared around the room. He grabbed his phone and shut off the alarm, noting the few times that he woke up to the sound of it. Lelouch looked over at the wall opposite his bed where he hung his costume, the hat and mask laying on the table. It felt like a waste now since he will probably only wear it once but then again, he used his father's credit card so no harm done.

After washing up, Lelouch began putting on his costume. As he fasten the cape around the around his neck, he couldn't help but feel ridiculous. Damn Milly and her crazy schemes, this better not be a school wide prank to get Lelouch to dress up while everyone else didn't. As a quick precaution, he grabbed his phone and sent a text to Rivalz and Suzaku and a few of his chess club members who aren't associated with Milly to confirm if they really had to dress up.

The replies came back to be yes, they did have to. Lelouch sighed and put on the 16th century conical hat and grabbed the white mask off his desk. He tucked the mask in the inside fold of his jacket and grabbed his bag to go downstairs.

"Lelouch," his mother said turning to look at him as he walked down the stairs. "What are you supposed to be?"

Lelouch didn't say anything but put on the white mask he had tucked away.

"Ah, that's V!" his mother exclaimed. "But are the daggers allowed in school?"

"They're fake," Lelouch assured his mother, still wearing the mask while tapping the fake daggers strapped to his side. "Besides, I'm the student council vice-president."

That's right; Lelouch Lamperouge had decided to dress up as V from V for Vendetta. While trying to come up with an appropriate costume, Lelouch remembered the comics he read as a child and a particular comic about a British anarchist came to mind. Though when it first came to mind, it looked a lot more appealing than actually wearing it.

It hardly constitutes as scary but Lelouch knew he wouldn't be the only one to cosplay as something. Besides, Milly said to put his best effort into it so he did. 'I wonder what C.C. will be wearing…' Lelouch thought to himself.

He was shaken out of his thoughts however as he heard his little sister's voice. "Oh, this is exactly like when you kids were still…well kids." Marianne exclaimed as she took a good look at her daughter.

Nunnally was wearing what appeared to be a pinkish-red frilly dress with white stockings. On her back were white wings that spread out as if in mid-flight, and on her head was a red headband with wings on both sides. She was holding a short staff topped with what looked like a bird's head with giant eyes that had wings coming out from it, and a beak to rival Toucan Sam. She was wearing white gloves with a ribbon tied around each wrist as well. Lelouch vaguely recognizes her costume but he couldn't quite place it. It was something from their childhood, when they spent hours in front of the TV watching anime.

"Morning Nunnally, when did you prepare that?" Lelouch asked, turning to face his sister.

"My friends and I were getting together the past few weeks to prepare our costumes," Nunnally answered.

"All that trouble for one day?"

"The same can be said about you onii-sama," Nunnally smiled sweetly. "I didn't even know you were into this stuff. We thought you were just going to don on a Frankenstein mask or something."

"I'm just following our dear president's orders," Lelouch answered with a smirk.

"Sure, I guess you really like theatrics onii-sama, going all out like that," Nunnally said as she came down to give her mother a morning hug.

"It's Halloween; you're supposed to be scary." Lelouch said playfully.

"V is not scary," Nunnally replied. "Besides, I doubt anyone will try to be scary. Halloween has always been an opportunity to dress up."

"There goes Milly's idea of a fright fest," Lelouch said.

"I'm sure this was just an excuse for Milly to make everyone dress up." Euphie said as she came down the stairs.

"You're right, but aren't you a little too old to dress up as a princess?" Lelouch asked teasingly.

"You're never too old!" Euphie said, the tiara flashing in the faint morning light flowing through the windows. "Besides, Nunnally's a fairy and she's 14."

"I'm not a fairy, I'm Card Captor Sakura," Nunnally said, twirling around.

"Suzaku isn't dressing up as Prince Charming though," Lelouch told her.

"I don't care," Euphie replied. "Matching all the time is tiring."

The three teens had a quick breakfast and were soon in the car, heading towards Ashford Academy. It was quite a sight to see the assortment of costumes the students chose to wear for the day and perhaps even weirder for those who commute by train or any sort of public transportation. The students didn't seem to mind being forced to be in costume; rather it looked like they were enjoying it. The fact that it was a half day as well would also be exciting as classes were shortened. Milly really has too much influence for her own good.

Although the festival was open to the public, Lelouch doubted a lot of people will come and it would be mostly attended by Ashford students. It was the middle of the school week after all, as Milly demanded it be on October 31st.

The usually bright and cheerful campus of Ashford Academy has been transformed into a giant haunted mansion, although the effect was diminished somewhat by the fact that it was still day time. Curious passersby that did not attend the school or work here would stop and stare for a little while before continuing on their way. A sign advertising the festival stood at the front entrance.

Since everyone was in costume, no one really stared at Lelouch or anything. A few who knew of his costume complimented him on it. Nunnally soon went to join her friends at the middle school section while Euphie headed off towards the first year high school students' classrooms. The outside of the main school building looked as if it had been abandoned for decades and Lelouch knew that with special lighting, it'll give off that haunted mansion look later on tonight. He can already see the spotlights that were already pointed towards the building. The insides looked as if it was completely destroyed to give off that run-downed look, but it was just clever decorating.

As Lelouch headed down the hall towards his class, someone wearing black pants, a red and black striped shirt, and a bowler hat jumped in front of him. The student's face was painted with a light red paint so it took Lelouch several seconds to recognize him, mainly due to the white hair.

"Mornin' Mr. Vice-President," the student said.

"You must be the Chinese transfer the student that came at the beginning of the semester," Lelouch answered taking off his Guy Fawkes mask. "Mao right? How did you know it was me?"

"I saw you walking with your sisters," Mao answered. "Nice costume by the way."

"Thank you," Lelouch said politely. This was the first real conversation they had. Other than being a childhood acquaintance of C.C. and what Lelouch dug up on him from the student records, he did not know Mao very well personally. "You too, Freddy."

"Ah, you recognized it!" Mao said sounding enthused. He waved the fake knives attached to his fingers by a brown glove under his chin, as if to scratch it. "You're the first so far."

"It's very nicely done," Lelouch commented drily. Inside his head, Lelouch was trying to figure out why Mao was talking to him all of a sudden, different motives flashed by in his mind.

"As is yours V," Mao complimented.

It was very hard to discern anything from Mao's speech. Whenever Mao talks, it sounded as if he was laughing at the same time. Not wanting to be judgmental, Lelouch did not rule Mao out as possibly insane.

"How are you enjoying Ashford Academy so far?" As the student council vice-president, Lelouch is obligated to be friendly and welcoming to new students. Besides, this welcoming seemed long overdue.

"Quite a change from my previous school," Mao replied. "And I got to meet C.C. again!"

"Yes, she told me you two knew each other." Lelouch said, keeping up the friendly facade.

"Of course we did," Mao said, spreading his arms out as if for a hug before dropping them again. "We were very close as children."

"I see…" Lelouch replied cautiously, thinking that any mention of C.C. will set this guy off, whether it'd be a case of euphoria or anger.

Just then, the bell signaling the start of class rang. "Well, I better be off. You should head to your class too." Lelouch said.

"C.C. is mine," Mao muttered as Lelouch walked past him.

Before Lelouch could respond, Mao had already bounded off in the other direction. Lelouch stared at the shrinking figure for a moment. 'Yeah, definitely dangerous,' He thought.

Surprisingly, Karin did not appear that morning. Lelouch walked into class and almost walked out before he realized everyone was just in costume. He looked around the classroom, attempting to locate his friends when someone approached him from the side.

"Yarghhh, nice costume thar' V." The V was dragged out at the end of the sentence, almost like a hiss.

"Rivalz?" Lelouch asked after jumping back a little in shock.

"Captain! Captain Rivalz Sparrow, savvy?" Rivalz replied, doing a weird twisting motion with his body.

Rivalz was wearing a red bandana, wrapped tightly around his head with a few strands of weird beads hanging down the sides. He was wearing a black vest over a white, long-sleeved, loose hanging shirt. A wide belt wrapped his waist, holding the brown trousers up. The belt itself had a holster with a fake musket pistol and cutlass strapped to it. He was wearing regular boots on his feet but it matched the pants well enough. In his hand, he held the traditional triangular shaped pirate hat.

"You're missing the eye patch, hook for a hand, fake parrot, and stump for a leg," Lelouch recovered.

"No I'm not, I'm Jack Sparrow." Rivalz said in his normal voice before changing back and adding, "Savvy?"

"No, I'm not savvy."

Lelouch spotted the rest of his friends soon enough near the back of the classroom and made his way toward them. As he walked, he made a note of everyone's costume. Suzaku was in all black except his hair, but his pants, shoes, trench coat, and sun glasses were all black. His hair was pulled back with gel. In fact, he almost looked exactly like Lelouch but Suzaku's cloths were fit tighter around his body. Kallen's costume surprised Lelouch in that, it was pretty generic. Her clothes were not black but all dark-toned. Kallen was wearing a black leather jacket, looks a little like the one from the previous festival, and dark blue tight jeans. The shirt underneath the jacket was blood red with some black patterns at the edges. Lelouch thought she wasn't wearing a costume until he saw the two fangs extending out of her mouth. Shirley was also in a similar outfit though, instead of tight jeans, she wore a black jean skirt instead. Fangs also protruded from her mouth.

The person that caught Lelouch's attention the most was C.C. When she said her costume was quite ordinary, she wasn't kidding. She was a witch, garbed in all purple, the skirt ended mid-way down her thighs and her neon green hair ran freely down her back under the large pointy hat. She even brought a broomstick for a finishing touch, though it's only about two and half feet in length.

"I never thought you'd be one to cosplay," Kallen said when she noticed Lelouch. The fangs made her smirk look a lot more menacing.

"Those are some realistic fangs; they don't garble your speech. Where did you get them?" Lelouch asked, ignoring her comment.

"I have people," Kallen replied. "Though it took some practicing before I stopped biting my lips, Shirley still hasn't mastered the trick yet though."

"I'm trying, but…ow!" Shirley covered her mouth.

"I never thought you put this much effort in your costume Lelouch," Suzaku said, lowering his sunglasses.

"Same to you," Lelouch replied, tucking his mask away in his belt.

"Neo wasn't very hard to imitate, clothing wise," Suzaku replied.

"Ah so that was it, I recognized it but couldn't quite remember." Lelouch said. "You always liked the whole dodging bullets thing."

Lelouch finally turned to C.C. to examine her more closely. Aside from her costume, she didn't look all that different. He did not know the amount of makeup – or any for that matter – that she usually wore but she looked the same as usual. "A witch?" He said to her.

"Got a problem, V?" she responded.

"I'm just saying it's an interesting choice." Lelouch replied shrugging. Lelouch knew why she chose this costume. It was because he had called her a witch plenty of times in the past. This is was probably an allusion to that.

"Quit staring," C.C. said and wacked Lelouch's head with the bristle of her broomstick. Luckily, the tall conical hat absorbed most of the hit. The hat rolled away as a female student witch long, light purple hair walked up to them. Lelouch recognized her as Miya.

"Hey, the class wants to mess with the teachers by being in full costume the entire time. That means, masks, hats, everything, even though they aren't allowed during class." Miya said cheerfully to them, before walking away to inform another group.

"Seriously?" Kallen asked skeptically to no one in particular.

"I'm game," Suzaku said, putting on his sunglasses.

"Sounds fun," Lelouch agreed.

"You're awfully compliant today," C.C. commented as they went to their respective seats.

"Messing with Villetta-sensei is always fun," Lelouch said behind his Guy Fawkes mask.

When Villetta-sensei walked in, she paused for what must have been thirty seconds before speaking, just looking over everyone. "You know what; I'm not even going to bother…"

Everyone laughed.

The other teachers were less compliant, like Tohdoh-sensei who made everyone remove their masks and hats, while griping about the Milly's lack of discipline. Suzaku immediately obeyed. Ohgi-sensei must have heard from Villetta as he just ignored everyone's costumes and pretended this was a regular day. However, since classes were shortened, there really wasn't much you can do. P.E. was cut entirely for the day. And soon enough, classes ended and students and clubs that are involved in organizing the Halloween festival started on final preparations. Entry would start around sunset.

Lelouch and the others headed for the student council room to check with Milly what else they had to do. When they arrived, they found the student council room wired with multiple TV screens, and a complete control panel under it, on one wall. The TV screens showed various locations around the school, students walked or ran past not knowing they were being watched.

"Ah, there you guys are!" Milly said, greeting them from one corner of the room. Rivalz's face instantly lit up at the sight of Milly. She was a police officer, a very sexy one. The blue skirt was so high up her thighs her long smooth legs were in perfect view, Lelouch wondered if it was school appropriate. It didn't help that she was waving the baton around seductively.

"What is all this?" Shirley asked, gesturing around the room.

"Central command, of course!" Milly exclaimed. "This is where we spring all the traps and control the various special effects."

"When did you have time to set this up?" Lelouch asked, ignoring her costume.

"Just did today," Milly responded. "With some help of course."

Lelouch was sure getting help in that outfit wouldn't be very hard. Looking around, he asked, "Where's Nina?"

Milly looked around too. "She's hiding again, hold on!" Milly said and went into the door that led to another room.

They heard sounds of struggling and were about to go see if every was alright when Milly reappeared with a very red-faced Nina. No one could blame her; she was wearing a dark green playboy bunny costume complete with ears and the puffy little tail.

"Nina…I didn't know you were so…" Kallen said awkwardly.

"No! I didn't want to wear this!" Nina said defensively.

"You weren't wearing a costume at all though," Milly said. "And my rule was everyone had to."

"But…even so, why this?" Nina looked as if she was about to cry.

"Hey everyone!" Euphie said from the doorway as she entered the student council room. Her eyes landed on Nina still being held in place by Milly. "Ah, that's so cute Nina!"

"But…" Nina whined.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" C.C. asked. "We got a few hours before the festival starts."

"We wait," Milly said, letting go of Nina's shoulders. Nina slumped off to her usual place by her laptop, trying to cover herself as best as possible.

"So there's really nothing for us to do?" Kallen asked. "You made today a half-day for a reason right?"

"Not really," Milly said, taking a seat on one of the empty chairs. The usual long oval table was removed and replaced with just leather office chairs. The rest followed suit and sat down. "I did it just in case there were some last minute tasks but we were pretty on top of things so we're free for now. Oh yeah Lelouch, your fiancé was looking for you at first."

"Not surprised, I somehow managed to not see her the entire day." Lelouch replied nonchalantly. He looked over at C.C. automatically but like usual, she didn't react. She was currently looking over the control panels.

"I think you'll be quite surprised when you see her," Milly said teasingly.

"What? Did she dress up as a sexy nurse or something?" Lelouch said, he wouldn't put it past her.

"You like that kind of stuff, Lelouch?" C.C. said, turning to face them again. She sat down at one of the chairs scattered around the room.

"What, no, I was just saying…" Lelouch countered rather weakly.

"Well whatever," C.C. said, as if letting this go. Lelouch knew this would come back to bite him later though.

"So we just wait?" Kallen asked. "Doesn't seem very exciting, you even cancelled classes for this."

"Oh don't be such a study-wart," Milly said. "We'll play some games then."

They went along with Milly's games since they had nothing else better to do. At some point, Milly suggested they play strip poker but everyone except Rivalz – who just stayed quiet – vehemently opposed it. Lelouch was just here so he wouldn't have to confront Karin or Mao, who aren't part of the Student Council, so they aren't allowed in to the meeting room.

Since the entire school building was turned into a haunted house, there really wasn't any route one was supposed to take. You are free to roam. Various traps and other pranks were set around the building, waiting to be set off by the people in the control room.

The controls to set off the different traps and pranks around the building were surprisingly simple and only required two person at a time to operate. Shirley and Rivalz – much to Rivalz's disappointment – was assigned with the first shift of operating the controls. Milly went to the school intercom system to announce the start of her fright fest. Suzaku went off with Euphie soon after. Nina went off with some of her classmates whom Lelouch did not know, leaving Lelouch, Kallen, and C.C. Whether this was intentional or not, Kallen left them saying she was meeting her lacrosse friends.

"So, what now?" C.C. asked.

"We're off-duty right now so we can just enjoy ourselves," Lelouch walking ahead, before turning back to face her. He held out his hand, "come on."

C.C. tried to hit Lelouch again with her broomstick but he was ready this time, and was able to dodge it. "Stop trying to act cool." She said to him, but she took his hand anyways.

The light from the orange sunset really began to set the mood for the haunted house. The shadows formed by the twilight shining on the various objects around the halls and rooms looked menacing, and would probably look even more menacing later on under the moonlight. By now, everyone would be outside waiting to be re-allowed into the school. Various concession stands have been set up in front of the school building to sell refreshments and food or just offer other types of activities centered on Halloween, but the giant haunted house was still the main attraction.

Unfortunately, Halloween fell on a weekday this year. This means that there really weren't all that many visitors from outside the school, especially students from other schools. Sure there were a sizable amount but not like the usual turn-outs for Ashford's famous festivals.

"Lelouuuch!"

Lelouch stopped and looked around. There wasn't really a crowd but it was still difficult to find someone.

"Who's that?" C.C. asked. She must have heard it too.

"Lelouuuch!" the voice came again, but this time clearly from behind.

Lelouch and C.C. turned around to see someone in a wedding dress running up to them, complete with a veil. He quickly put on his Guy Fawke's mask upon recognizing the running bride. Well he was supposed to be wearing the mask anyways, but he felt rude for attempting to hide from her.

The bride came up to them and stopped to catch her breath before saying, "where were you? I couldn't find you the entire day." Karin said, trying to sound angry.

Lelouch didn't say anything but thought about it. He wasn't anywhere in particular, just to classes and he just thought Karin was busy or something, hence why he didn't see her.

"I know it's you under that mask you know," Karin said, after receiving no response.

"Well, it was my mistake for removing my mask. V never takes off his mask when around others." Lelouch said off-handedly.

"Yeah anyways, so what do you think?" Karin held up the skirt of the wedding dress and did a little twirl. It was not a particularly poofy dress like those you see nowadays with the layered hem; rather it looked a nightgown that was redone. "I'm your bride!"

"That is pretty scary," C.C. said under her breath.

Lelouch heard it but Karin just stared at her. He wasn't sure if Karin heard that or not but she didn't react.

"The haunted house opens when it's dark right? Let's go in together." Karin said tugging on Lelouch's arm.

Lelouch felt a nudge to his side – like a broomstick – and looked down at C.C. She wasn't looking at him but he got the idea. "I already said I'd go with C.C., sorry." Lelouch said, trying to sound apologetic. Though the smiling Guy Fawkes mask doesn't really help.

"I'm sure she can go with some friends," Karin sounded genuinely annoyed now. "She does have other friends right?"

"Karin!" Lelouch said rather angrily.

"What? I'm just saying. She's always hanging out with you." Karin said defensively. "What about Mao? He seems to know her."

"What? I can't spend time with my lover?" C.C. said, putting extra emphasis on the last word. That surprised Lelouch as he has never actually seen her openly mock anyone.

"Wait, lover – "C.C poked in the side with the broomstick before he could finish.

"Lover?" Karin had a small blush on her cheeks now.

"Wait, she didn't mean what you're possibly thinking of," Lelouch, rather panicky. "We haven't done anything like that yet."

"What are you talking about?" C.C. said seductively, leaned up towards Lelouch's face and hooked a finger under the Guy Fawkes mask to pull it off, then planting a soft kiss on Lelouch's cheek. "You mean you don't remember that night before you went to America?"

"I don't care; I'm sticking with Lelouch tonight." Karin said, returning to holding Lelouch's arm. "It doesn't matter if you're his lover, I'm his fiancé."

"Whatever," C.C. said and took Lelouch's other arm.

Lelouch sighed and put on his mask, in case anyone recognized him and starts saying he's a player. And so V was seen, leading two beautiful ladies around the festival, amidst demons, ghosts, ghouls, and other supernatural beings, arms locked; V has been captured.

Halloween has only become popular in Japan in the recent years, being that Obon and Halloween were very similar. The younger generation of Japanese has embraced this western holiday and sure enough, most of the non-Ashford attendees are young men and women. There were a few of the older generation but they were probably here to see what all the fuss was about.

Milly had set up a trick-or-treat event for the entirety of the festival for the grade-schoolers to enjoy as well. Each stall and staff member was mandated to hand out candy – all paid for by the student council of course – to grade school kids who asked for it. Little kids in costumes, probably their first Halloween, ran around with parents chasing them. As the night progressed, more and more people came despite the fact that it was a weekday.

The haunted house that is the school building has long since been opened but Lelouch had chosen not to go in yet. He had C.C. and Karin to handle right now anyways; no doubt he would end up going in with both.

The three saw Gino soon enough and he was surrounded by girls. Gino was a knight, literally, with the armor and everything. Gino didn't seem to have noticed Lelouch but Anya, who was behind the groupies, stopped when their group walked past each other.

"Hello Lelouch," She said. Anya was wearing a witch hat like C.C. but she had a purple cape on over regular cloths, and a stuffed cat perched on her shoulder. In her hand, she held a hand-made wand with a star on it.

"How'd you know it was me?" Lelouch asked, not bothering to take off the mask.

Anaya's eyes flickered between Karin and C.C. before saying, "lucky guess."

"Have you gone into the haunted house yet?" Anya asked.

"Not yet," Lelouch replied.

"It's quite well done, though I don't suggest going in with a group of hyperactive girls."

Lelouch chuckled weakly. He had never heard Anya criticize people before. She was quite harsh in her judgment.

"Well I'll see you around Lelouch; it seems you're preoccupied right now." Anya said and walked in the direction of Gino and his groupies.

"We should go in at least once before out shift starts, to get a feel of it at least." C.C. said.

"Shift?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, Lelouch and I have to man the control room later." C.C. explained and added. "Just the two of us…in that dark room…"

"C.C.!" Lelouch stopped her before she can continue.

"What?" she said defensively.

Karin looked like she was about to blow a gasket so Lelouch had to intervene. "Yeah, let's go check out the haunted house then, shall we." And he pulled the two along while making sure they won't attack each other. Something in C.C. seemed to have awakened that night. They do say that Halloween is when spirits and other evil wake up.

The three of them headed towards the main school building that was the haunted house. Tohdoh-sensei was standing guard at the entrance in case anything happened, but he doesn't seem to be paying attention as he was talking to this short haired woman. So Lelouch, C.C., and Karin just walked in like everyone else. Rivalz and Shirley were probably watching them through the various cameras and Shirley was most likely yelling at the screen at Lelouch. Although it's not Milly's shift, she was probably hanging around in that room as she likes to watch other people enjoy themselves or suffer rather than enjoy or suffer herself; watching Lelouch as well and forming crazy rumors.

C.C. doesn't seem all that fazed by the various pranks and traps, she would occasionally stiffen, but that was the extent of her reaction. Since she and Milly were the brains behind most of these traps, she probably knew where each and everyone were. Karin on the other hand were screaming and jumping left and right. It was rather cute since she was genuinely surprised at the traps.

The three passed various other people and couples. The couples would look at them strangely as Lelouch is still locked arm-in-arm with Karin and C.C. As Lelouch walked along, C.C. suddenly let go and scooted away from the two. Lelouch was wondering what was going on while Karin smirked, when something cold and heavy dropped on the two. Lelouch looked up to see various colored goo dripping down on him and Karin from the ceiling. Karin screamed in disgust and started wiping away the goo while C.C. just laughed.

"Could've given a warning you know," Karin said angrily, as she brushed off the last of the goo off her white dress. The heavy substance had pulled off her veil.

"What? It's not like it sticks to anything and it comes right off," C.C. said, still chuckling a little.

Lelouch took off his hat, the wide brim had caught most of the stuff that would have landed on his shoulders, and shook it off. "We're at a disadvantage since you already know where the traps are placed."

"That's right," Karin agreed.

"If you had paid attention, you would have seen the goo around the floor where others have fallen for the same trap as well," C.C. pointed to the various puddles of goo around the ground with her broomstick.

They were arguing while walking so none of them anticipated the next trap when bloody corpses, fake of course, hung on ropes around their necks, dropped in front of them. The fake blood sprinkled around, forming little red spots on Karin's dress. C.C. had a look of surprise before she started wiping the blood off her face with her sleeves, which were only creating smudges. Lelouch smiled and took out a tissue from his pocket and started wiping away the blood smudges from her face. He only noticed Karin when he heard grinding teeth and quickly stopped. There was an awkward moment before another spray of fake blood hit the three of them, nullifying Lelouch's previous efforts.

"Good job Rivalz," Milly praised as Rivalz smiled and laughed.

"That was mean, Madam President." Shirley complained.

By now, the top half of Karin's wedding dress was red. At least it looked scarier, like some sort of zombie bride. Karin walked along grumbling to herself. The three of them already disengaged their arms so they were waking independently of each other. Since Lelouch's costume was black, the wet spots did not really show but it created a nice effect on his Guy Fawkes mask, with streaks of blood across it. You also couldn't see the red, at least not much, on C.C.'s dark purple outfit.

They weren't really going anywhere when they found themselves on the highest floor, in front of the door that led to the roof. C.C. suggested going up since there was nothing else better to do and just enjoy the view, so they did. Karin had calmed down and just followed wordlessly. They walked up the short flight of stairs and opened the door to the outside, letting the cool night air blow their faces. Lelouch let the door close behind him as he followed the two girls out, which clicked shut quietly.

They were walking towards the metal fence that protected students from falling off when C.C. suddenly turned around, looking at a storage shed.

"What's wrong?" Lelouch asked, taking off his mask to breathe.

"I just saw some movement," C.C. said pointing to the shadows of storage shed.

"Isn't it just your imagination?" Karin asked exasperatedly, while Lelouch took out his standard issued flashlight.

"Maybe…"

Suddenly there was a high pitched squeal and Lelouch looked up in surprise. He flicked the flashlight light on and the beam landed on two figures that were so entwined in his each other's arms that you couldn't tell who's who. One had his shirt ripped open while the other had her dressed hitched up to her thigh. A black trench coat lay at the ground. The figures broke apart when the light struck them and both parties looked at each other like deer in front of headlights.

"Euphie!" Lelouch yelled out in shock.

"Lelouch!" Suzaku yelled.

Suzaku!" Lelouch responded in kind.

There was a moment of a silence before the situation exploded.

"What the hell are you doing to my sister?" Lelouch exclaimed.

There was no defense for this. The usually calm and smooth Suzaku could only stutter in embarrassment as he tried to think of an excuse, but what can you say to excuse the fact that your shirt was opened and you had your hand up your best friend's sister's legs?

"Well…technically, I'm only your half-sister." Euphie said weakly, after she straightened her dress.

"Still! " Lelouch exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry Lelouch, I have no excuses." Suzaku dropped on his knees and put his head to the ground.

"You better be," Lelouch walked towards them, hands clutching the flashlight.

"Lelouch, stop!" Euphie said stepping between her boyfriend and her brother. "He's your best friend!"

"Best friends don't try feel up their sisters like that!"

"But we're dating!"

C.C. and Karin, through unspoken agreement, stepped up to restrain Lelouch before he can bash in Suzaku's head with those girly arms swinging the flashlight. Euphie was pushing Lelouch back while Suzaku was still on the ground with his head down in apology.

"I don't say anything about you and C.C. making out!" Euphie screamed.

"We don't do it in public!" Lelouch countered, still trying to swing at Suzaku.

"Wait, what?" Karin had let go now.

"Wait…" Lelouch stopped flailing after realizing what he said. "I meant we haven't made out yet…"

"Then you two kissed?" Karin exclaimed.

"Well…" Lelouch started.

"Fuck you Lelouch!" Karin yelled and stormed off.

"What was she expecting? We're supposed to be lovers." C.C. said calmly.

"We're getting off topic." Lelouch said, deciding to deal with Karin later if need be. "I don't mind you two being together but could you save that stuff for some other time?" Lelouch turned back on Euphie and Suzaku.

Suzaku was back on his feet now after Euphie pulled him up. "Sorry Lelouch."

"What? We do! And the roof was private, or would rather we were making out in one of our rooms?" Euphie countered.

"Euphie…" Suzaku said weakly.

"As your brother, I don't want to see this!" Lelouch yelled.

"Don't you trust us to do the right thing?" Euphie said.

"I trusted Suzaku wouldn't do something like this!"

"Stop being so over-protective, I'm not Nunnally!" Euphie screamed one last time before pulling on Suzaku. "Come on Suzaku, we're going." And the two left the roof, leaving Lelouch and C.C. alone. Suzaku signed "I'm sorry" one last time to Lelouch, hoping their childhood code will prove his sincerity.

C.C. let go of Lelouch now since she won't have to restrain him and picked up Suzaku's trench coat. "You should go apologize…" C.C. handed him the coat.

"Like hell I will," Lelouch tried to bat the coat away in anger. "I wasn't the one at fault."

"I'm not going to pretend to understand how you feel since I don't have siblings," C.C. said, holding the coat under her arm. "But I'll speak as a girl. Yes, what you did was wrong."

"How so?" Lelouch said angrily.

"We don't need a man to protect us 24/7; we can take care of ourselves." C.C. explained. "Euphie is already 16 and she's a lot more mature then girls I've met, she understands her actions."

Lelouch didn't say anything.

Both their cell phones buzzed, signaling that they received a text message. Lelouch didn't do anything while C.C. tucked the broomstick under the arm with the coat and took out her phone.

"It's time for our shift," C.C. said.

Lelouch remained silent.

"I'll meet you in the student council room then," C.C. said and walked away.

Lelouch did not know how long he stood there, looking down at the lights below, hearing the laughter of children float up to him. He was still angry over what he saw but as he thought about it, he shouldn't be surprised. They've probably met in secret like this plenty of times before. That thought only made Lelouch angrier but he remembered why he let Suzaku date Euphie in the first place. Suzaku was the only person he trusted to protect his sisters, in fact, he had hoped that Suzaku would have gone for Nunnally in the beginning.

Lelouch decided. He wasn't going to apologize but he was going to have a talk with Suzaku. He was still angry but cold reason won over emotions. He was going to call Suzaku when he heard muffled clapping behind him. Lelouch turned saw the red painted face of Mao.

"Good evening Mr. Vice-President," Mao said teasingly.

"Mao," Lelouch said plainly. He wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now.

"Oh don't be so cold," Mao said and sauntered over. "Nice festival by the way, I had read of Ashford Academy's reputation before coming here and I have to say it has exceeded its reputation."

"This is actually pretty small compared to our usual," Lelouch replied, playing along for now.

"Probably," Mao said. "Security's a bit lax though."

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked suspiciously.

"Oh nothing," Mao chuckled. "Don't worry, I haven't done anything to the people you care about…I'm just giving you a warning to beef up school security."

"I'll keep that in mind…" Lelouch said, narrowing his eyes.

"By the way, where is C.C. right now?" Mao said.

"What did you do?" Lelouch asked, suddenly panicking. C.C. had walked back to the student council room alone.

"Why do you always assume I did something?" Mao shrugged, mocking guilt, his knifed fingers twinkling in the faint light.

"You're not exactly the trustworthy type," Lelouch said bluntly.

"Ouch, that hurts." Mao clutched the gloved covered hand with the knives to his heart, his voice tainted with sarcasm.

"Yes, I'm sure it does." Lelouch replied in kind.

"Your sister looked so cute by the way, the younger one. Card Captor Sakura huh? Ah, memories…I remembering watching it with C.C. as a child," Mao said nostalgically.

"Stay away from her," Lelouch threatened, his arm going to fake daggers at his belt. Like those could do anything but it looked threatening.

"Ooo…the protective older brother," Mao taunted, waving his gloved hand around.

Purple eyes locked with Mao's gray ones under his shades.

"Oh, a Jack-A-Lantern carving contest!" Mao said suddenly, as he looked down. "Well, see you around, Lelouch Lamperouge." And Mao disappeared through the door and down the stairs.

Once Lelouch was sure Mao was gone, he took out his phone called Nunnally. She answered and Lelouch breathed a sigh of relief. He warned her to be careful and watch out for a high school student in a Freddy Krueger costume just to be sure and to stick with her friends. He then called C.C.

"Hello," she answered.

"Where are you?" Lelouch asked.

"In the student council room," C.C. answered. "Get over here, I can't handle all of this alone and Milly disappeared again."

"You didn't meet anyone on the way right?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind then."

"Ok then, get over here and help me. And we'll talk about your little problem with Suzaku and Euphie." C.C. hung up before Lelouch could respond.

Lelouch tucked his phone away and put his Guy Fawkes mask back on, before heading back towards the student council room.

Karin was sitting down at one of the benches, angrily trying to wipe the dried fake blood off her dress and shoulders. Was Lelouch really dating that green haired girl? She didn't react when Euphemia called them out for kissing but Lelouch did. If they were dating, then why is he so embarrassed about kissing her then? Unless he just liked to keep things like that private, he did seem the type.

She was so engrossed her in thoughts, she didn't noticed the person who sat next to her until he tapped her shoulder with a rather pointy finger. It was a fake knife. Karin jumped when she saw him but quickly realized he was in costume. Why was he wearing sunglasses at night?

"You must be Karin right?" the person asked.

"Who wants to know?" Karin asked suspiciously.

"I'm Mao…" Mao answered and lowered his shades. "I have a proposition for you."

Lelouch arrived at the student council room and C.C. didn't even bother to turn and greet him as she flicked a switch and pressed a button there to set off the different traps. Suzaku's coat was draped on one of the chairs, which reminded Lelouch that he needed to talk to him. Lelouch took the leather office chair next to C.C. and eased up the pressure on her.

Finally, the pace was set and C.C. turned to Lelouch. "So, have you calmed down?"

"I'm not going to apologize." Lelouch said simply.

"I guess you wouldn't," C.C. said.

"I'm going to have a talk with him."

"When?"

"As soon as possible, tonight at the after-party probably," Lelouch said.

"If Euphie lets you…tell them before hand so they're not caught off-guard."

Lelouch considered it for a moment before taking out his phone and sending a quick text message to Euphie and Suzaku, "Done."

"Good boy," C.C. praised.

Lelouch just scowled as he flicked a switch to drop the fake dead bodies on an unsuspecting Kallen. She was surprisingly squeamish, quickly twisted behind the guy she was with to dodge the spray of fake blood. Lelouch recognized him from the last time they met as her boyfriend.

"By the way, Mao came to me after you left the roof." Lelouch said off-handedly.

"Was that why you called to ask if I met anyone?" C.C. said, just as calmly.

"Yeah."

"So what did you two talk about?"

"This and that," Lelouch said. He wasn't going to mention that Mao had threatened him because, one, it would only worry her, and two, Lelouch had to admit that Mao was pretty good with words.

"I see…"

"Yeah," Lelouch repeated.

Soon enough, their shift was over as Milly, Nina, and Kallen arrived. Although he politely excused himself, Milly had insisted that Kallen's boyfriend was allowed to stay. She made a special exception. Lelouch and C.C. left the four to their exchange of polite excuses and made their way back to the courtyard. In another hour, the festival will end and the after-party for the students will begin. Despite the fact that it was it was a school night, most students would stay anyways and the students who lived in the dorms would definitely be there.

Several kids ran past them before C.C. turned to Lelouch. "Karin was pretty angry when she left."

"Probably," Lelouch replied, "Especially after what Euphie said about us. Why didn't you try to deny it?"

"I don't know," C.C. replied simply. "Come on' let's go carve a Jack-A-Lantern. The grand prize is a 50,000 yen gift card to Pizza Hut."

"Pizza witch," Lelouch said, as he let her drag him towards the empty area prepared for the contest.

The guests stayed to the hour that the festival ended. C.C. did not win the Jack-A-Lantern carving contest with her rendition of the Pizza Hut mascot, Cheese-kun. As the students cleaned up, Lelouch and C.C. went back to the student council room. It's too late to unplug the system of TV screens in there but it's just to regroup. Euphie turned away angrily when Lelouch entered while Suzaku greeted him.

"Sorry," Suzaku apologized again. "She's still a bit angry."

"We'll talk after they all leave," Lelouch gestured to Milly and the others.

Milly was in the process of convincing Kallen to stay for the after-party, but Kallen refused, saying that she lives rather far and she has to take the train in the morning.

"Such a shame," Milly said.

"It can't be helped right?" Rivalz said.

"I guess," Milly said before turning to the group as a whole. "So how did everyone enjoy the night?"

Everyone agreed that it was fun and the best festival ever, whether they actually thought so or not was irrelevant.

"Alright let's go!" Milly said and made her out. "They should have the bonfire lit by now."

They all followed but Lelouch, Suzaku, Euphie, and C.C. stayed behind. "We'll be there soon." Lelouch told them when Shirley came back to inquire.

C.C. closed the door and took a seat on one of the leather office chairs, waving the broomstick like a wand. Euphie still wasn't talking but Suzaku coaxed her into a chair as they sat down. There were several minutes of silence before Suzaku spoke up.

"Look, I'm sorry…"

"Stop, you've apologized enough." Lelouch cut him off by raising his palm.

"Then…"

"I'm not apologizing," Lelouch said simply.

"What!" Euphie stood up angrily.

"Euphie, sit down." Suzaku pulled her down while she and Lelouch were having a staring contest.

"I know what your argument is Euphie," Lelouch said when she finally sat down. "I may only be your half-brother but I'm the only older brother, only older sibling in fact, here to watch over you."

Euphie was about to say something again when Lelouch held up his hand to stop her again.

"We may have different mothers but you've been with us long enough for me to treat you like my full-blooded sister," Lelouch continued. "I only did what any older brother would have done."

"Lelouch…" Suzaku said uncertainly.

"I trust you Suzaku," Lelouch said. "I rather have you kissing my sister than anybody else."

Euphie doesn't look angry, but she still didn't say anything.

"I can't stop you or control what you're doing," Lelouch said. "Just don't let me see it."

"Thank you Lelouch…" Suzaku said warmly.

"However," Lelouch said sternly. "Sex is not part of the acts I allow as long I don't see it."

Euphie's face instantly lit up like a lantern and Suzaku just looked at his best friend in shock. They never thought he would say something like that in such a straight forward manner.

"What…what are you talking about Lelouch?" Euphie said embarrassed.

"Lelouch, I swear that we've never…"Suzaku said.

"What?" Lelouch asked. "Didn't you say yourself once Euphie? 'Suzaku and I have gone way beyond kissing' or something like that."

Suzaku looked at her in shock.

"I wasn't talking about sex!" Euphie said as she hid her face in her hands.

"Good," Lelouch said. "Keep it in your pants until marriage."

"Marriage?" Suzaku said, surprised.

"I'm going to go enjoy the after party," Lelouch said with a smile, ignoring Suzaku's last comment. "Remember what I just said. Come on C.C."

C.C. stood up and followed Lelouch out the door, leaving his stunned best friend and sister to process everything.

"That was very mature of you," C.C. said as they walked down the stairs to the first floor.

"Do you mean to say I'm not usually?" Lelouch said.

"No, I'm just saying you were pretty cool back there."

"And I wasn't cool before?" Lelouch said with a smirk.

"Stroke your ego all you want, you're still captain of the chess club." C.C. said simply.

"Witch…"

"I know…"

_A/N: A long chapter to make up for almost two months of absence (17 pages, single spaced, almost 9,000 words, not counting the author's note), I didn't want to split this in two, and because I just wanted to cram a lot of things in it. The whole thing with Suzaku and Euphie was there because I wanted to develop them some more since I barely talk about them in this fic._

_And as you can tell, I'm quite a fan of cosplaying…yet I've never actually cosplayed at a convention before. Screw traditional Halloween costumes, they're boring._

_Miya is an actual character from the show. She was the one who got Lelouch's hat during the Valentine's Day thing in R2 before getting geassed. I don't know why I remembered her._

_I'll say this now; the story will end in March (story timeline). Yeah I made up the word 'study-wart". Wow this chapter was hard to write…not because it was long but just hard. That's it, I'm done with festivals…for now._


	20. Chapter 20

_A/N: I recently "got" the Code Geass game for the DS…yeah DS…and thank you all for 200+ reviews. It seems the lines I used to separate the scenes are gone from my previous chapters._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 20**

With the start of November, everyone was already talking about Christmas, despite the fact there was one other holiday that comes before. However, Thanksgiving was even smaller in Japan than Halloween so no one cared too much, if they even knew about it.

All in all, it took about a week for the school to return to normal after the Halloween festival. Everything used was put into storage and probably will never be used again, at least not for a while. With the exciting schedule prior and during the festival, this peace was relatively unsettling as all the student council members became accustomed to the running around. The student council members, including Lelouch, C.C., Suzaku, and Euphie were sitting around the table, filling out paperwork or sitting idly as there was really nothing to do. Suzaku and Euphie had become more conservative around Lelouch than before and even refrained from touching each other in his presence.

"Ah!" Milly suddenly screamed out. "This is fucking boring!"

"Are you sure you should be worrying about that?" Lelouch asked. "You're graduating in March."

"Exactly!" Milly stood up suddenly and exclaimed. "I only have a few months left I can't waste a moment on boredom!"

"Is that why we've had more festivals than previous years?" Suzaku said chuckling.

"Why don't we have another one?" Shirley suggested. "Christmas is coming up."

"No!" Kallen said. "The planning for the Halloween festival was stressful enough."

"If I could, I would've announced it already." Milly sounded defeated. "The chairman, my grandfather, said I went overboard with the Halloween festival so I'm not allowed to host another one."

"Don't we have the annual Christmas Ball anyways?" Euphie asked.

"A Ball?" C.C. asked, looking up from the book she was reading.

"That's what sets Ashford Academy apart from most schools in Japan," Kallen said. "We hold school dances."

Since Ashford Academy was built mainly to accommodate international students whose parents may have came to Japan for their work, the school tries to be as similar to western schools as possible, short of adopting the traditional school year calendar. And so along with many activities that were common in Japanese public schools, Ashford also host activities from western schools.

"The Christmas Ball also happens to be the graduating 3rd years' last school social event before they're plunged into the madness that is end of the year exams and final preparations for college," Lelouch explained before turning to Milly. "Speaking of end of the year preparations, which university are you going to?"

"My family wants to go back to the states of course, like most foreign parents here." Milly said exasperatedly.

"It sounds like you don't want that," C.C. commented.

"Of course I don't," Milly said. "I've lived in Japan for pretty much my whole life and outside of family acquaintances, I don't know anyone else in the states."

"Then stay!' Rivalz said encouragingly, "Stay here where all your friends are."

"I'll think of something," Milly sighed before perking up. "That reminds me, student council elections are coming up."

"That's something forgettable?" C.C. asked.

"Well, Milly had won all three years since entering the high school section." Rivalz said.

"And since we're part of her "administration" for all intents and purposes, we get re-elected every year because we work so well together." Lelouch said.

"Sounds like some kind of political party," C.C. commented.

"It's exactly like a political party," Lelouch responded, "Although, our opposition was usually independent runners so they never stood much of a chance. Last year, no one ran against us."

"Now you're just bragging," C.C. said.

"So who wants to run for president to take my place?" Milly asked the group at large.

No one said anything, though everyone looked toward Lelouch.

"Nominations?" Milly asked and again, and after a moment of silence, "Alright, I nominate Lelouch."

"I refuse." Lelouch said bluntly.

"All who agrees raise your hand." Milly said.

Everyone did, even the usually quiet and timid and Nina.

"I said I refuse," Lelouch repeated.

"Come on, we all know you're the only one fit to do it." Suzaku said, lowering his hand after everyone was in agreement.

"I beg to differ," Lelouch said. "Are you sure you want a pessimistic and lazy cynic to be president?"

"The school's female population loves you," Milly said. "You'll win for sure."

"Then I nominate Kallen," Lelouch said. "She's much more capable than I am and the school's male population loves her."

"What?" Kallen yelled.

"It's not like you have to do much," Rivalz said. "I doubt anyone will run against us anyways."

"What do you think, C.C.?" Milly asked.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Lelouch," C.C. said. "If you think you're a cynic than you'll be able to identify the ulterior motives of all those who try to gain your favor. That's actually good in a leader."

"So C.C. also agrees." Milly said.

"How about this," Suzaku said. "If you run for president, I'll run for vice-president."

"That's a great idea!" Euphie said. "You two will be unstoppable together."

"So Lelouch, what will it be?" Milly asked.

"I'll think about it," Lelouch said finally.

00000

In an unused classroom, two students stood face to face. The girl was looking away from the white haired male with a hesitant expression as she rubbed her elbow with her other hand. The white haired male was half-sitting, half-standing, against a desk.

"I'm not too sure about this…" Karin said nervously. "This seems a bit much."

"That green haired witch," Mao cringed at forcing himself to insult his beloved C.C. but it came smooth nonetheless, "she has Lelouch wrapped around her fingers. You want him back don't you? We're merely rescuing from the witch's clutches." Mao cringed again.

"Fine…" Karin said. "And what are you doing then?"

00000

A cool November weekend came and saw Lelouch hanging out with Gino, Suzaku, Rivalz, and Anya. Gino had called for guy's day out but for some reason, Anya came too. Recently, it seemed that wherever you find Gino, you'll find Anya. Maybe it was because Gino and Anya lived close to each other and she tagged along. Like usual, Anya was quiet most of the time but Suzaku attempted to bring her in to the conversation, though she only gave simple answers. Being the weekend, they were free from their uniforms and were wearing their casual street cloths.

The five of them were currently at the arcade, doing as boys do, button mashing away on some fighting game. Rivalz was playing Anya at the moment and was losing. The blue haired teen's face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to manipulate his character into pushing Anya's character back, while Anya remained as impassive as ever. Gino was cheering both fighters on enthusiastically.

"I can't remember the last time we just hung out like this," Suzaku said in a soft voice. He and Lelouch were standing off to the side, watching the spectacle.

Lelouch looked over at his best friend. The Japanese teen could get really sentimental sometimes; maybe it was from hanging out with foreigners so much. "We're always together during school anyways," Lelouch replied.

Suzaku, as if being snapped out of an illusion, turned towards Lelouch. "You haven't played anything yet."

"You know me; I've never been much of a video game person." Lelouch shrugged.

Rivalz eventually lost in the end and dropped his head in defeat. Lelouch was quite surprised at Anya's skill in video games, as he thought she was like him. Gino, wanting to show off, went over to the DDR machine and started dancing. Despite his crazy moves, he was actually doing pretty well when it came to the score. Too bad most of the girls in the arcade were here with their boyfriends. Anya recorded Gino's craziness on her phone the entire time while maintaining her impassive face.

"You should upload it on the internet," Rivalz laughed, noticing her with the phone out.

00000

"I feel like a stalker," Karin said uncertainly, standing back as Mao was looking around a corner.

"It's not stalking when we had to actually find them," Mao said, as if his words were final.

"Whatever," Karin replied.

"Just go," Mao sighed.

00000

Lelouch and friends were sitting around a table of intricately woven metal table under a giant multi-colored umbrella. They decided to take a small lunch break and went to the Pizza Hut near the arcade. They had ordered one extra large pizza to share but Lelouch knew that, if C.C. was here, she would have been able to eat the entire thing by herself. As they enjoyed their cheesy meal, someone called out Lelouch's name. Whoever it was, Lelouch had his back to them so it was Rivalz and Gino who noticed first.

"Lelouch, isn't that your fiancé?" Gino asked with a smirk.

Lelouch turned around and tried to look past the heads of the crowd, but it was difficult as he was still sitting down. He heard the familiar voice calling his name though.

Rivalz had stood up from his seat to get a better view. "Yup, that's her." Rivalz said. "Do you want to run away?"

"I don't see a reason to," Lelouch said.

"So is C.C. the mistress?" Gino chuckled.

"Oh shut up," Lelouch said, voiced laced with annoyance.

Karin had approached the group by now and was trying to catch her breath since she practically ran over here. Despite the cool weather, she was wearing a skirt and a light V-neck shirt with a small jacket. Although, Anya was in shorts so they must be able to take it. Everyone has their own tolerance level. Karin hitched her purse higher before saying anything.

"Never thought I'd meet you guys out here," Karin said, addressing the group as a whole.

"Are you out alone?" Gino asked.

"Yeah, thought I explore Tokyo a bit." Karin said cheerfully. "What are you guys up to?"

"We're just hanging out since all of us were free," Rivalz said.

"Really?" Karin asked, sounding genuinely interested. "Can I join?"

"Why not?" Gino said and gestured to Anya. "Anya needs a female companion."

"Awesome." Karin replied before turning to Lelouch. "You don't mind right?"

"Why should I? The more the merrier right?" Lelouch said, sounding as cheerful as possible. He honestly didn't care; he doesn't hate her or anything. Karin had been rather quiet as of late as well, she hadn't really bothered him the entire week. Lelouch was curious as to why.

00000

Meanwhile, C.C. was out with Milly, Shirley, Euphie, and Kallen, doing what girls like to do. Shopping. Milly had gotten wind of the guy's going out through Rivalz and decided to put together a girls' day out. Nina had respectfully declined.

The five girls were in a rather expensive looking clothing store in the next city. Shirley and Euphie were in the process of forcing an unwilling Kallen into the dressing room to try on cloths she will never be able to afford. Meanwhile, Milly and C.C. sat on a small bench off to the side, watching the three girls struggle.

"Why don't you try on something?" Milly asked suddenly.

"Like Kallen, I wouldn't be able to afford it anyways." C.C. replied.

"Aren't you from a well-off family?" Milly asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah," C.C. said but didn't elaborate.

"I see," Milly said as an expression of understanding appeared on her face. She decided to change the subject to something she was more knowledgeable of. "So how are you and Lelouch doing?"

"What do you mean?" C.C. asked, her turn to be confused now.

"You guys are serious now right?"

"Huh?"

"Are you two still pretend-dating?"

C.C. stayed silent for moment, thinking things through. They didn't say anything to the contrary but recently, Lelouch's actions didn't feel like an act. "I don't know." C.C. finally said.

"I see," Milly sighed. "Sometimes Lelouch's acting skills are too good."

C.C. cringed. So Lelouch has a reputation of being a good actor. Although she knew their agreement was to pretend to date, a little bit of her wanted this whole act to be real. Maybe C.C. played the part so well the entire time was because she thought it was real, and a reminder from outside had woke her up from the dream. That dream that hid her desire for all this to be more than an act.

"Besides Nunnally, Euphie, and Suzaku, I probably knew him the longest." Milly said. "But I still can't figure him out sometimes." Milly was looking off into the distance, probably reminiscing about her childhood memories with Lelouch.

C.C. chuckled to hide the small bud of jealousy at Milly's closeness with Lelouch. She turned to Milly, "You made me realize something."

"What?" Milly looked back at her.

"Can you keep a secret?" C.C. asked. That question was pointless since Milly was the source of gossip but perhaps, she wanted this to get out.

"Of course," Milly grinned mischievously.

C.C. leaned towards Milly's ear and whispered something to her. Instead of the usual mischievous grin, Milly just smiled. "So that's how it is huh?" Milly said. "Don't worry; I'll try to help you as much as possible."

Just then, Euphie came out of the dressing room dragging Kallen while Shirley pushed. Milly and C.C. turned their attention back to their friends.

"Alright, let's go sing some karaoke!" Milly said cheerfully like usual, as if the previous conversation with C.C. didn't happen.

00000

Although Karin had joined the guys, she was now walking along down the street with Lelouch in tow, the others nowhere to be found. She was humming the tune for a song as she walked before turning to Lelouch. "So what do you want to do?"

"I thought we were heading back to the dorms," Lelouch said. Karin had suddenly decided she had to go back to her room because she forgot something important but apparently, she realized that she did not know the way back to the academy.

"Oh come on," Karin said. "We can hang out a little before heading back."

Of course, Lelouch knew that she was just trying to get him alone with her. Gino had offered Anya to go with her but Karin had insisted on Lelouch escorting her. "You obviously know how to return to the academy, so I'll be taking my leave."

"Are you really going to leave a foreign girl all alone?" Karin said, grabbing hold of his arm.

"Technically we're both foreigners," Lelouch said coldly. "But you know the language well enough to ask for directions."

"Is it too much to just spend a day together?" Karin asked. The two of them had stopped where they were now.

"Considering our current circumstances, yes" Lelouch said matter-of-factly and added, "I have a girlfriend remember?"

"I know you don't like our engagement," Karin sighed. "So how about we just try and have fun today?"

"In other words, a date," Lelouch said simply.

"No!" Karin said hurriedly. "I know that the engagement has a chance of being called off now that you revealed your relationship with C.C."

"I'll make sure it gets called off." Lelouch cut in abruptly.

"Then I at least want us to remain friends," Karin continued.

Lelouch had been adamant on his position but hearing Karin say that softened his shell. "Karin, it's not like I hate you or anything," Lelouch said truthfully. "It's our families."

"Then why won't you spend a day with me?" Karin asked defensively.

"Why can't we do it with my friends," Lelouch asked.

"What's wrong with it being just the two of us?" Karin asked back.

"People will misunderstand it as a date," Lelouch answered.

"If we both vouched that it's not, than the misunderstanding is solved," Karin said simply.

"It's not that easy…" Lelouch sighed. Karin was a girl; she should understand how gossip spreads better than him. Though, now that Lelouch thought about it, he has been rather distant and cold towards her. 'Spending a day with her shouldn't be so bad,' Lelouch thought to himself.

Karin looked up at him. "Well?"

"No strings attached right?" Lelouch asked to make sure.

"Of course not," Karin answered, looking away from him nervously, guilt washing over her.

Either Lelouch didn't notice that slight gesture or he didn't care, he walked on ahead. "Come on, you don't want to get left behind in this crowd." Lelouch said, turning back to her.

And so, Lelouch and Karin walked around the bustling streets of Toyo. Although they said they would hang out, nothing came to mind for an activity. The two window-shopped until they reached a rather spacious park. Various people, from little kids clutching the hands of their parents to old couples could be found. There also various vendors like ice cream and balloon vendors for the children. Lelouch and Karin decided to buy some ice cream, each paying for their own of course, and sat down at one of the benches.

"So what do you want to do?" Lelouch asked, scrutinizing his vanilla cone before licking it.

"I don't know," Karin said as she started on her strawberry, "I thought you'd know where to go since you've lived here all your life."

Lelouch was avoiding hang-out places he knew because it would look like a date if it were only the two of them there. He took a look around the park and saw two old men playing shogi, the Japanese equivalent to chess. Shogi was different from chess however; in that the pieces moved differently and there are various other quirks like turning your "knight" into the "silver knight" and among other things.

Karin had noticed where he was staring, "so you like to play shogi too?"

"What? Did you think I only play chess?" Lelouch asked, turning to face her.

"Guess not," Karin said.

"I was introduced to shogi by Suzaku and Tohdoh-sensei," Lelouch said. "It was after I thoroughly crushed them in chess, and they wanted to play something where they have a slight advantage over me."

"I thought boys usually played video games and sports," Karin said.

"I'm not like your usual teenage boy," Lelouch said, chuckling a little. "I'm sure you've noticed my performance in P.E. class."

"Maybe that's because you play too much chess," Karin said laughing along.

As the two finished their ice cream cones, Lelouch heard one of the old men declare victory. He looked over again and saw the winner grinning triumphantly at his opponent. The loser did not look crestfallen but was smiling as well. Lelouch stood up and walked over towards the wrinkly men.

"Seems like I won again, Asuma." the winner had said, laughing loudly.

"I still remember when you would beat me and sigh in boredom, Shikamaru." The man named Asuma said. He took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and lit one, putting it in his mouth. "When did you start gloating?"

"Are you really sure you should be smoking?" Shikamaru asked. "Kurenai is not going to be happy."

"Then we don't need to tell her," Asuma winked.

"Good afternoon gentlemen," Lelouch said politely as he approached them, Karin following behind curiously.

"Oh, how can I help you young man?" Asuma said, turning around. "Want to learn how to play shogi?" Asuma had not said anything to the fact that Lelouch and Karin were foreigners.

"I already know how to play, thank you." Lelouch said gracefully. "I just noticed your particular playing style."

"Oh?" Asuma said, raising his eyebrows.

"The two of you were defending the king so obsessively," Lelouch said.

"Well aren't you supposed to?" Asuma said, blowing out some smoke. "The king is your most important piece, without it, everything is lost."

"But a leader should not cower behind his subjects," Lelouch said philosophically. "If the king doesn't move, his subjects will not follow."

"Who says the king has to be a leader?" Asuma said. "The king is something important that the soldiers are fighting to protect."

"Interesting view," Lelouch responded.

"How about a match? You seem like a smart kid," Asuma said. "He may not look it, but Shikamaru was my protégé when he was young."

"Sounds fun," Lelouch said; taking Asuma's seat as the old man stood up.

"Don't pay attention to any of his crazy rambling," Shikamaru said with a smirk. "Nice to meet you, I'm Shikamaru."

"Lelouch."

Lelouch and Karin walked out of the park after the match and just walked in a random direction, with nowhere in particular to go. The shogi match ended with Lelouch's victory, albeit it was a close victory. That Shikamaru was not the common pushover Lelouch usually played.

"I didn't understand what was going on, but I could tell it was intense." Karin said.

"Of course," Lelouch said. "There are only a select few who can push me that far into a corner and now I can add another to that list."

"I see," Karin said, glad that she finally found something to talk to Lelouch about, something that he enjoys. "Then can you teach me how to play?"

"Shogi?" Lelouch asked.

"Shogi, chess, whatever," Karin said.

"Come to chess club sometimes then," Lelouch invited. "I'm the president so I should be able to make some time."

"Really? I didn't know," Karin said. "So you're a president and vice-president."

"I'm only vice-president of the student council because Milly forced me," Lelouch said, laughing.

"It doesn't look like you hate it," Karin said.

"So what do you want to do now?" Lelouch asked.

"Like I said earlier, I don't know what one can do here." Karin shrugged.

"Then how about the aquarium?" Lelouch said.

"There's an aquarium near here?" Karin asked.

"Of course," Lelouch said. "You're paying for your own ticket though."

"How very ungentlemanly," Karin teased.

Lelouch and Karin had arrived and entered the aquarium already. Lelouch was surprised; the day had actually been fun. Maybe he has been ignoring Karin too much. It wasn't her fault that they're engaged anyways.

Karin was staring at a multicolored fish, swimming lazily in front of her in the tank. She gasped as a huge shadow appeared over her, only to look up to see several manta rays swimming over the heavy glass tunnel they were in. The aquarium was designed so the attendees are surrounded by the tank, so there was various sea lives all around except below them.

"Hey Lelouch, what's this freaky thing?" Karin asked, pointing at a brown and white striped fish with spikes protruding along its spine and fins.

"That would be a Lion Fish," Lelouch said, walking to her. "Looks rather intimidating right? It's one of the most poisonous fish in the seas."

00000

C.C. had just returned from her day out with the girls. Walking down the street towards her apartment, she noted the quiet surroundings. It was late so most people would be home already. She sped up subconsciously and reached the building within moments. Once in the elevator, she looked down at the bag in her hands and smiled, she ended buying a few accessories after Milly's encouragement. When the double metal doors slid open, C.C. walked out only to find Mao standing in front of her apartment again.

"Welcome home!" Mao sang.

"What are you doing here?" C.C. asked, her expression turning cold.

"Nothing," Mao said. "I just wanted to visit."

"Okay, then go home now." C.C. said. She stayed where she was since Mao was blocking her door.

"Oh don't so cold," Mao said as he walked towards her. "Fine, I just came here to tell you that your 'boyfriend' isn't as loyal as you think." The way he said, it sounded as if he knew about the entire act.

C.C. didn't say anything but merely continued to look at him.

"Don't believe me?" Mao said, taking out a digital camera and handed it over to C.C. "Take a look for yourself."

C.C. reluctantly accepted the camera. She turned it on and went to the gallery. Pictures of Lelouch and Karin appeared, walking down the street, Karin holding onto Lelouch's shoulders as he played shogi with some old man at the park, the two at an aquarium. Maybe it was because of the conversation she had with Milly earlier in the day, but C.C. actually felt betrayed.

"So you were stalking them?" C.C. asked trying to turn the situation around. She tossed the camera back, not caring if it breaks but Mao caught it with one hand like nothing.

"I was just watching out for you!" Mao said, switching to a tone of devastation. "He's clearly a player. I'm sure you know about the rumors of him at school."

"Yeah so?" C.C. did not know what to believe. From everything she has heard, Lelouch was completely against his engagement.

"Don't you get it?" Mao said. "You're merely his mistress!"

"Don't be ridiculous," C.C. brushed Mao aside and walked to her door and opening it. Not knowing what came over her, C.C. added, "Lelouch and I love each other."

Mao smirked as he heard the door close. He had done what he came to do; now it's up to time to take care of the rest.

_A/N: my lack of a job depresses me. _

_I have played shogi before…it was fun, but hard…a lot harder than chess in my opinion. And yes…Naruto reference…it just came to me when I wanted Lelouch to play something other than chess…*laugh* R.I.P. Asuma_


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N: I actually forgot what was supposed to happen in this chapter so it took a while I guess…and I think I'll change one of the genres; it doesn't seem very humorous now._

**Disclaimer: I do not….do I really have to repeat myself? Fine. I do not own Code Geass.**

**Chapter 21**

Milly Ashford walked down the grand hallways of Ashford Academy, towards the principal's her father's office. In her hands was a folder with all the current student council members' re-application to stay and Lelouch's candidacy form for president. He hasn't agreed to the candidacy yet but Milly never really cared about his opinion in situations like these. Besides, Lelouch was the only she could trust to continue her legacy. Also, it would just be like the manga she reads where the most desirable man in school is also the student council president.

"Come in," a middle-aged male voice said through the door when Milly knocked.

She opened the door as instructed and greeted her father, "hey daddy!"

"Milly, what is it?" her father asked, looking up at her daughter. His response could not be considered cold but it wasn't warm either. He loved his daughter and spoils her at every turn, but he was never able to verbally express his affections.

"Here are some applications for the student council next year," Milly said, handing the folder over to his father across the desk. "It's the same people but they're experienced."

"It's fine as long as they keep up the good work and the students vote for them," her father took the folder, and opened it to take a quick look. "So Lelouch will be running for president, you didn't force him into it did you?"

"Of course not," Milly said without a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Well someone else came in earlier to hand in a candidacy form for the presidency as well," her father said taking a paper out of his desk to show his daughter. "I'm glad that even exchange students are interested in our student government. He looks pretty promising too."

00000

Lelouch stole a glance to his side where C.C. sat. She was currently paying attention to the lecture but Lelouch felt that she's been giving him the cold shoulder lately. C.C. has always been a bit cold but lately, it has been more noticeable. Not only that, it seemed to be directed only at him.

_Earlier…_

_Luxury cars lined the street in front of Ashford as the school day started and along with those who walked, there was quite a crowd. Lelouch and his sisters had just exited their car and walked through the school gates when he noticed the unmistakable green hair walking amongst the students ahead. Lelouch walked up to the C.C. and tapped her on the shoulders._

"_Morning," he said cheerfully._

_C.C. turned around and scrutinized him for a second before turning back and continued her way towards the main school building._

"_What's wrong with C.C.?" Euphie asked as she and Nunnally caught up._

_Lelouch was just as confused so he just shrugged._

"_Onii-sama, what did you do this time?" Nunnally asked, glaring at her brother._

"_I didn't do anything!" Lelouch said defensively. "At least not that I know of…"_

_When Lelouch reached his classroom, he saw that C.C. was already at her seat. He walked towards her and was about to ask her why she ignored him when she stood up and walked past him and out the classroom._

"_Yo Lelouch," Rivalz said as he draped an arm around his buddy's shoulders. "What's wrong? Are you two having a lovers' quarrel?"_

_C.C. didn't return to the classroom until the bell rang._

Present…

C.C. has been ignoring Lelouch the whole day and he began to feel uneasy about it. Did something happen to her? What can happen that would involve him. Sure they were pretend-dating right now but he couldn't think of anything anyways. Lelouch found note passers to be annoying but was willing to be a hypocrite as he silently tore out a notebook page and wrote a quick message on it. Such a waste of paper. Rather than wasting time and folding it, he pushed it to his side towards C.C. Lelouch saw her eyes glance at the note but she didn't do anything else.

Lelouch prodded the note farther away from him and towards the green haired witch but she still didn't do anything. Sighing in frustration, he retrieved the paper and crumpled it into a ball. To the teacher, it would only look like he was getting rid of scrap paper. He tried sending her a text under the desk but she didn't even read the message after seeing the name. The rest of the period remained uneventful as lunch break neared.

"Let's go, C.C." Lelouch said as he stood and held out his hand towards her.

C.C. ignored the hand and walked towards the door where Lelouch's friends and the student council were waiting. This obviously did not go unnoticed as the girls around the classroom started whispering to one another. Lelouch dashed out as fast as his weak legs can carry him.

"What happened?" Suzaku asked. He stayed behind so Lelouch could catch up. "She seems mad."

"I have no idea," Lelouch told his best friend. "But something did happen and I intend to find out. Keep the others busy."

Lelouch, getting fed up with being ignored, speed walked towards C.C. and grabbed her by one of her wrist. C.C. could've easily broken his grip as he dragged her down an adjacent hallway but she was so surprised at Lelouch's actions that she just followed along as he gripped her wrist. The others looked on in shock but Suzaku ushered them off as per his best friend's instructions.

When Lelouch found an empty classroom, he pulled C.C. in and locked the door behind him. C.C. hasn't resisted which is a good sign…Lelouch guessed but what he did could've angered her even more. However, he wanted answers from her. Lelouch turned around to face the witch and saw she was leaning against one of the desk as she watched him. Neither said anything because they both expected the other to start. Lelouch expected C.C. to yell at him and ask what he was doing, and C.C. was expecting Lelouch to just start yelling.

Finally, it was Lelouch who started but he wasn't yelling. He just asked calmly, "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" C.C. asked after a few seconds of watching him expressionlessly.

"You know full well," Lelouch said somewhat vehemently. "Why have you been ignoring me?"

"Oh that?" C.C. said and looked away, but she didn't continue.

"Well?" Lelouch urged.

"Nothing, I just didn't really want to talk to you." C.C. said.

"Did I make you mad or something?" Lelouch asked.

"Not really, now that I think about it," C.C. said. "We're only pretend-dating so it doesn't matter."

"So it has something to do with that," Lelouch said as if understanding something before saying, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"We're not really dating so you're free to be with anyone," C.C. said. "Just tell before you want to end this farce."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Lelouch asked, more confused than ever.

C.C. didn't say anything.

"Did something happen?" Lelouch asked again.

"That's something I should ask you," C.C. said. "I thought you didn't want to marry Karin."

"I don't," Lelouch confirmed. "But again, what does that have to do with anything?"

"You're pretty clueless for someone who's always in the top five in the rankings." C.C. said.

"Will you stop talking in riddles?" Lelouch said exasperatedly.

"What were you doing Saturday?" C.C. asked suddenly.

"I was hanging out with my friends," Lelouch answered.

"After that?"

"I went home?" Lelouch said uncertainly.

"What about your date with Karin?" C.C. asked with clear vehemence in her voice.

"What?" Lelouch was confused for a moment before realizing. "Oh! That wasn't a date. She dragged me away with some lame excuse."

"You seemed to have enjoyed yourself," C.C. said.

"Well she wasn't as bad I thought her to be," Lelouch admitted.

C.C. just scowled and looked away.

"Wait," Lelouch bent down to get a better look at C.C.'s face. "Are you jealous? I never thought you were the type." He started to laugh at the prospect.

"Jerk," C.C. started to make her way towards the door.

Lelouch quickly grabbed her wrist again to stop her, "you're serious aren't you?" He had stopped laughing as quickly as he had started.

C.C. didn't respond but she didn't try to walk away when Lelouch let go.

"Yes, I did spend the second half of the day with Karin but it was only as friends." Lelouch tried to explain.

C.C. tried to make her way to the door again only to have Lelouch stop her again. "Why are we pretend-dating, Lelouch?"

"Huh?" That question had caught Lelouch off guard so he said the first thing that came to mind. "So I can force my dad to call off the engagement between me and Karin?"

"We don't have to pretend you know," C.C. said.

"What?" Lelouch was making sure he had heard her correctly. Did she mean what he thought she meant. Could this be a chance?

"I'm hungry so could you let go?" C.C. said, interrupting his thoughts. "I'm not mad at you."

Lelouch sighed in relief. "Good," he let out.

"But that doesn't mean I forgive you," C.C. said and walked away.

Before Lelouch could say anything, C.C. was already out the door. Forgive him for what? Was she really angry with him for hanging out with Karin? He explained that they were only going as friends. That's right. He can just ask Karin to explain it to her. Lelouch walked out of the classroom with this thought in mind only run into Mao in the hallway.

"You seem to have gotten yourself in a bind," the white haired teen said, wearing that same smirk as usual.

"What do you want?" Lelouch asked.

"If you're wondering why C.C. is so mad at you," Mao said, taking out his cell phone, he tossed it to Lelouch. "It's because those pictures."

Lelouch navigated to the pictures folder in the phone and his eyes widened in shock. It was pictures of him and Karin hanging out, pictures that could be easily mistaken to mean something else.

"You just don't understand women, Lelouch." Mao said mockingly.

Lelouch kept his composure and closed the flip phone. "Cell phones are prohibited in the school building so as the vice-president of the student council, I'll be confiscating this."

Mao just laughed. "Oh, that's a good one."

"You think I'm kidding?"

"Of course not," Mao said as he wiped a tear away under the shades he always wore. "I just expected a better come-back."

Lelouch ignored him and walked his away, Mao's cell phone in his pocket.

"I told her to do that you know," Mao said to Lelouch's back.

"What?"

"Karin, I told her to go _seduce_ you that day," Mao said. "Of course, she could've refused but she didn't because she wanted to win you over at any cost."

Lelouch didn't say anything and thought about the day he spent with Karin. Was it all just a lie then?

Mao walked up to Lelouch, leaned into his ear and whispered, "I'm going to make your life hell," before walking away laughing, not caring about the fact that his cell phone was just confiscated.

Mao was at the end of the hallway when he turned back around and yelled, "If having cell phones in the school building is prohibited, then I'll change it once I'm the student council president. So may the best man win."

The hallway they were in was empty but if there were students around, it would have been a very strange sight and conversation indeed.

00000

Determined to fix this, Lelouch decided to go find Karin so she can explain this to C.C. since she obviously won't listen to him. What was her problem? Lelouch wound his way through the school building to Karin's classroom. Looking inside, he didn't see her so he stopped a girl walking in front of him to ask for Karin's whereabouts. Apparently, she had left in a hurry after getting a phone call and was going to meet someone at the gym.

Lelouch turned from the classroom to restart his search, annoyed that he has to go all the way to the gym to find her. What could she possibly be doing at the gym? He had an idea on who she was meeting so he could venture a guess.

The gym was in a different wing of the school so it took a while for Lelouch to get there. Upon arriving, he found the doors were locked which makes sense as students shouldn't be in there during lunch anyways. Lelouch walked around the walls of the gym until he heard voices, stopping just around the corner, he was able to hear the conversation between two people, the two people he was looking for.

"Good Karin, now just do I say and you'll get Lelouch and I'll get C.C. and everybody's happy!" Mao said.

"I understand," Karin said weakly. Perhaps Lelouch imagined it, but it sounded like she was crying just now.

"I'll be counting on you," Mao laughed.

Lelouch gritted his in anger and walked away. He was so angry that he skipped class the rest of the day.

_Before Lelouch's arrival at the gym…_

_Karin came just as Mao had asked but she had different reasons in mind for talking to him. Looking around, she saw that Mao hasn't arrived yet. Taking a big breath, she calmed herself and put on a determined face._

"_Alright, I can do this." Karin said. "I just have to say I don't want to be involved with his stupid plan anymore." Karin didn't admit it, but Mao scared her and probably many others too. The girls she talked to in class also thought he was creepy._

"_Hey there!" Mao greeted cheerfully as he rounded the corner. "Did I just hear that correctly?"_

_Karin jumped back in surprise, "You heard that?"_

"_So what were you saying?" Mao sneered._

"_I…well…I…" Karin was stuttering before saying in one breath. "I don't…don't want to be part of this anymore."_

"_Are you sure about that?" Mao asked. "Your brother would be disappointed…or should I say step-brother."_

"_How did you know?" Karin asked, backing away in shock._

"_That's not the only thing I know," Mao continued. "Your real parents used to work for the Maldini family but died in some freak accident. You had gotten close to the Maldini's son, Kanon, and so he took pity on you and convinced his parents to take you in. However, your adoptive parents never really treated you like their daughter so in order to be the perfect Maldini; you even dyed your hair. Eventually they accepted you but you know that, if you defy them, they would instantly turn their back on you again. You're no longer a child so they won't feel guilty for kicking you out."_

"_How do you…" Karin said, tears started to appear by now as the memories she suppressed of her childhood years returned._

"_Internet and deductions," Mao explained simply. "Not that difficult."_

_Various thoughts ran through Karin's mind, the main one being how this guy, who she had just met, knew so much about her. She had forgotten her familial obligations while in Japan but Mao had brought it back in full force. The blond teen was now trembling._

"_There is a way for you permanently cement your place in the family," Mao said. "Do what they requested of you and seduce Lelouch…"_

_Losing the will to resist, Karin could only nod._

"_Good Karin, now just do I say and you'll get Lelouch and I'll get C.C. and everybody's happy!" Mao said._

"_I understand," Karin said weakly._

"_I'll be counting on you," Mao laughed._

00000

Lelouch charged into the student council room after school, pushing the door open. If he had been stronger, the door would have collided with the wall causing a loud bang but as it was, it only tapped the wall. Milly was sitting at the end of the long oval table on her laptop but looked up in surprise when Lelouch charged in like a madman.

"I accept your nomination for the student council president position," he said to Milly.

Milly, who was still in shock at Lelouch's entrance recovered, "perfect, I already did your candidacy form."

'It's on Mao,' Lelouch thought.

00000

C.C. opened the door to her apartment and grabbed the letters and newspaper ads that filled the mailbox on the inside. Kicking off her shoes she dropped her bag on the ground upon entering the room and threw the stack of mail on the little table in the center. The small room was not very luxurious but it worked and the lack of furniture made the room look bigger than it really was. A TV-stand with a small but pricey looking TV stood at one end while the other end was the small kitchen, which C.C. never really used. In the center was the small table where she does her homework, eat, and etc, which can be easily flipped on its side and stood against the wall to make room for a futon. On one wall was the closet and the restroom and bath was by the entrance. C.C. took out her cell phone and pressed the speed dial for Pizza Hut to order a pizza and once that was done, sat down at the table to sort through her useless mail.

However, one letter caught her eye, she smirked as she saw the name and address on it. "This is what the internet and e-mail is for, mother."

_A/N: A bit of a short chapter._


	22. Chapter 22

_A/N: I've been re-watching Code Geass lately and I noticed a lot of small details that were never explained. And I've also come to the conclusion that the three main ships for Lelouch are for each of his personas. Shirley is for Lelouch Lamperouge. C.C. is for Lelouch vi Britannia. Kallen is for Lelouch as Zero. Although, I think Kallen and C.C. is interchangeable. Keep a look out for my allusion to modern American politics in this chapter...if I did it right._

**Disclaimer: please look in previous chapters.**

**Chapter 22**

The Ashford Academy student body government was created as a means for the students to have more control in how their school was operated. Unlike most schools' student body associations, elections at Ashford were meant to emulate real life politics as close as possible. However, ever since the granddaughter of the chairman, Milly Ashford, entered the high school section and became President in her first year, the seriousness of the elections was forgotten as it became a mere popularity contest since no one could beat the energetic and cheerful heiress.

Now that Milly was graduating, it still wasn't any different from the years of mock elections. It was still a popularity contest and compared to the current vice-president, second year Lelouch Lamperouge who has been working with Milly since entering the high school section, the dark-horse second year Mao was nobody.

To emulate real world politics as close as possible, candidates had to give a mandatory speech and have a debate in which the student body has to attend the day before voting starts. Most students find that event boring anyways so the real campaigning came before that event.

00000

As Lelouch walked through the halls of the high school building, he noticed that a lot more people were staring at him. He was used to this by now from the girls but even the guys were doing it. Deciding to ignore it like always, the black haired teen sped up towards his classroom. The classroom door was already opened so he just walked in and everyone suddenly went silent. Lelouch was confused at his classmates' strange behavior but they went back to their usual noisy selves as quickly as they had turned silent.

Spotting C.C., he walked toward the green haired girl and saw that she was reading what looked like a letter. As he approached her, C.C. took a glance at him before folding and tucking the letter away in her bag.

"What was that?" Lelouch asked curiously as he set his bag down and sat.

"None of your concern," she replied coldly.

"Still not willing to forgive me?" Lelouch sighed. "You're still mad aren't you?"

C.C. turned to look at him with those golden eyes of hers. "I'm not."

"Of course you're not." Lelouch said sarcastically.

C.C. just scowled and turned the other way again.

Lelouch sighed again and felt a vibration in his pocket. Taking out his phone, he saw the words "new message" flashing on top with the name Karin under it. Without even bothering to open the flip phone, he shoved it into his book bag.

00000

_That day behind the gym…_

_Lelouch waited until Mao's loud cackling had disappeared in another direction before turning the corner of the building. Karin leaned against the side of the wall with her eyes closed, an expression of sadness on her face. She opened her eyes when Lelouch's shadow covered her and looked at the purple eyed teen, surprise replacing sadness._

"_Was that true?" Lelouch asked._

"_What?" Karin looked frightened as Lelouch approached her._

"_Don't play dumb," Lelouch said, still sounding as calm as ever. Though, one could sense his anger as if an aura surrounded his body._

"_So you heard everything?" Karin asked. Lelouch was surprised at the hopeful expression but he hid it. "Then that makes explaining much easier."_

"_Don't screw with me!" Lelouch yelled._

"_Why are you so angry?" Karin yelled back. "You heard me telling him right? I…"_

"_Yes I heard," Lelouch cut her off. "You and Mao were working together right? I thought you were a okay person and we could be friends but everything you did was to further your own goals."_

"_No! I…well yes I was in the beginning but…" Karin attempted to explain._

"_I don't want to hear how you've manipulated me!" Lelouch cut her off again. "I can't believe I've let my guard down and be manipulated, especially by a skank like you!"_

"_I wasn't…"_

"_I bet you've been telling your family everything too right, how everything is going according to plan? Oh I can hear Schneizel laughing now…" Lelouch continued; ignoring Karin's attempted explanations. "This is like something out of those dramas that Euphie always watch, how ridiculous. I'm leaving."_

"_Wait…Listen to me," Karin said and tried to stop Lelouch but he just shrugged her off and walked as fast he can out of there._

00000

Morning classes progressed uneventfully. Lelouch slept through most of the lessons, so he did not notice the continual glances towards him by his classmates. Soon enough, the bell for lunch rang and the noise level spiked as everyone pushed away from their tables to join their friends or leave the classroom. Rivalz, Suzaku, Shirley, and Kallen made their way over to C.C. and Lelouch's table and seeing that he was still asleep, Kallen lightly pushed away the arm supporting his head and watched Lelouch slam his face against the desk. The others laughed as Lelouch woke up from the shock and pain.

"What the hell was that for?" Lelouch screamed as he shot up.

"Waking you up," Kallen replied simply.

"A simple tap or shake of the shoulder is good enough," Lelouch sighed.

"That would be boring," Kallen simpered.

"Brute," Lelouch muttered.

"Narcissist," Kallen responded in kind.

After the two stopped bickering, the group headed out the classroom to their usual spot in the courtyard. C.C. followed but was silent the entire way. As they approached the door leading to the courtyard, Lelouch spotted Karin waiting. When Karin noticed them, Lelouch started to walk down the hall to exit through another door, the others following. They more or less knew what happened but refrained from saying anything. Karin didn't attempt to follow but watched the group walk away.

After taking the long way, they finally found Milly, Nina, and Euphie at their usual spot. The three girls waved them over and as soon as they sat down, Euphie snuggled into Suzaku like a puppy.

"Ah, it's cold. Why are we eating outside in November?" Rivalz complained as he rubbed and blew on his hands.

"What took you guys so long?" Milly asked, ignoring Rivalz. She sounded irritated.

"We had to take a detour, you know how ridiculously big this school is." Lelouch said, not bothering to elaborate.

"Anyways, Nina just told me something very unsettling so I want to ask the rest of you about it." Milly continued.

"What is it?" Rivalz asked.

It was Nina who replied, "Have you guys noticed that the other students have been staring and pointing at us?"

"Not really, but I don't really pay attention to the other people." Shirley said.

"What about you, C.C.?" Milly asked, turning to the green haired girl who had remained silent the entire time.

"Huh?" C.C. said in surprised. "Yeah I guess, but I just thought it was Lelouch's admirers being jealous again."

"It's probably nothing, Nina." Lelouch said. "Just ignore it."

"Yeah…probably," Nina agreed though she still sounded uncertain. "Maybe I'm just too self-conscious."

Although Lelouch said that, he couldn't help but think about what Nina said. He certainly did notice the staring, pointing, and the whisper but he hasn't thought much of it. 'Is this Mao's work?' Lelouch thought. 'What did he do, or say?'

Since it was the middle of November, the number of students eating outside was just a handful. It seemed most students prefer the heated classrooms or cafeteria or just inside in general. So the current student council members were oblivious to the gossip going on inside.

While Lelouch ate outside, in the middle school section, Nunnally was enjoying her lunch with Alice and Nemo in their classroom. The three girls were eating and minding their own business when several of their female classmates walked up to them. They didn't have a pleasant expression on their face so Alice stood up instantly and took a stance, thinking they wanted to bully Nunnally.

"What do you girls want?" Alice asked in a menacing tone.

"Whoa easy there Alice, we just wanted to talk to Nunnally." The girl leading them said, holding her hands up in front of her in surrender-like motion.

"What is it?" Nunnally asked, looking up at them.

"Well…" the girl started nervously. "It's about your brother…"

"Is it true?" another girl asked, who was hiding behind the first, nervously.

"Is what true?" Nunnally asked with a confused expression.

"I just heard about it from my sister who's in the high school section so I don't know if it's trustworthy, you know how rumors go…" the first girl chuckled nervously.

Nunnally continued to look confused.

A third girl who looked to be the more confident one of the three stepped forward. "You haven't heard? There's been a rumor going around that your brother has been abusing his position as student council vice-president." She said bluntly.

"That's not true!" Nunnally said defensively. "Onii-sama would never do something like that."

"Well it is just a rumor…" the first girl said nervously.

"Apparently he and the rest of the student council are manipulating club funding to put some in their pockets," the blunt girl replied.

"Wait, the rest of the student council is involved too?" Nunnally asked, shocked.

"Well…Lelouch is supposedly the mastermind behind it all," the same girl said.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Nemo said suddenly. "Lelouch does seem capable of such a thing but what does Nunnally have to do with this?"

"You're not helping!" Alice snapped at her.

"Well the rumor does explain why my club's budget has been cut," the shy girl said.

"As you know, all students must join a club in Ashford Academy so this affects everyone." The blunt girl looked down at Nunnally.

"Onii-sama is innocent!" Nunnally said, about to cry.

"We have nothing against you Nunnally; you're a nice girl but…"

"Okay that's enough, you three leave." Alice said, pushing the three girls away before joining Nunnally and Nemo again.

"Don't listen to them," Nemo said, sounding unconcerned. "What your brother is doing has nothing to do with you."

"Of course it does," Alice turned to the blond. "Her reputation is at stake!'

"Its fine," Nunnally said with a forced smile. "I'm confident that onii-sama is innocent."

00000

Lelouch went home with Nunnally that day; however, he noticed that she was exceptionally quiet. Instead of bombarding him with questions about his day or his love life, she just sat next to him with her hands on her knees, looking down at said knees. Lelouch took the initiative.

"So how were your classes today?" Lelouch asked cheerfully, or at least as cheerfully as he can muster.

"Huh?" Nunnally looked up in surprise, and then smiled. "Oh yeah, they were great, we were learning about the feudal era in Japanese history today, the samurai were just like the knights in old fairytales. Instead of chivalry, it was honor for them, though one can say they're the same."

"I see," Lelouch smiled, glad that his precious sister is cheerful again.

"Maybe that's why Euphie likes Suzaku so much," Nunnally giggled. "She always loved those fairytales and Suzaku is just like a samurai." The said couple was currently elsewhere at the moment, hence why Nunnally was so open.

Lelouch laughed along with his sister as the car weaved through the busy and narrow streets of Tokyo. "Maybe we should've made Suzaku dress up as a samurai for Halloween, I'm sure his family has a traditional set of armor."

"Yeah," Nunnally laughed before slowly coming to a stop. The car stopped at a rather crowded intersection, they could hear Tamaki grumbling in front. "Onii-sama, have you heard the rumors?"

"What rumors?" Lelouch asked before looking at Nunnally worriedly. "Are you being picked on again?"

"No, it's not about me!" Nunnally said reassuringly.

"Are you sure?" Lelouch said. "You know you can tell your big brother anything."

"This isn't about me," Nunnally clarified. "It's about you."

Lelouch looked confused. 'Does this have anything to do with all the staring and whispering?' he thought. "Then no, I haven't heard." Lelouch finally said.

"People are saying you and the rest of the student council has been skimming money from club funds to put into your own pockets." Nunnally said in one breath. "That's illegal! I think…"

"Whoa wait, what?" Lelouch said, literally jumping back in surprise.

"So is it true?" Nunnally asked, looking at her brother with a worried face. "I don't want you to get in trouble. We have plenty of money so…"

"I don't know who started that rumor but it's not true!" Lelouch said defensively before realizing something. "Mao…"

"Huh?" It was Nunnally's turn to be confused.

"Whatever it is you've been hearing it's not true." Lelouch said calmly. "Don't believe any of it."

"Really?"

"Really," Lelouch assured.

00000

Kallen stood outside the train station as the streetlights and shop lights began turning on. The sun had just set. Kallen tighten the coat around her shoulders and checked her watch. "What's taking him?"

Just as he said that, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around and swung her fist out of reflex but the person dodged with a nervous laugh. "Were you waiting that long?"

"I told you to never sneak up on me," Kallen said defensively. "And yes, I have. Don't you know it's rude to keep your girlfriend waiting?"

The glasses wearing male laughed another laugh before apologizing. "Train ran late, but anyways, are you ready?"

Kallen sighed and hooked her arms around the young man's arm. "Okay, let's go."

Meanwhile, a white haired teen who was wearing shades despite the time of day watched Kallen and the boy walk the down the street. He took out a silver digital camera from his pocket and started following the couple through the crowd.

00000

The next day, Lelouch sent a text to everyone in the student council to meet up before class started. He wanted to discuss with them what Nunnally had told him. As he arrived at school and sent Nunnally off to the middle school section, he quickly walked through the huge campus and into the high school building. As expected, the stares and whispers followed.

Once inside, he quickly made his way to the student council meeting room, as quickly as he could anyways. Euphie walked normally and kept pace with him. She had heard what happened the night before. Lelouch was so distracted that he did not notice the posters plastered on the walls and bulletin boards that Euphie was pointing to.

Outside the meeting room, he was about to open the door when he heard noises inside. It sounded like yelling, angry yelling. Lelouch shrugged and opened the door to see Shirley and Milly holding Kallen back, with Suzaku and Rivalz trying in vain to control the situation, all the while, Nina coward in the corner. The girls stopped what they were doing upon seeing Lelouch enter the room.

"What's going on?" Lelouch asked uncertainly.

"You know who did it right?" Kallen said regaining her energy and tried to lunge at Lelouch. "My reputation is ruined.

"Reputation?" Lelouch said teasingly.

"Now's not the time, Lulu!" Shirley said.

"You called this meeting so you must know," Kallen said, calming down a bit.

"Well that depends…" Lelouch said uncertainly.

"I think she's talking about the posters outside," Euphie said. During the commotion, she had gone over to Suzaku's side.

"Posters?" Lelouch was confused now.

"This!" Kallen threw a crumpled up piece of paper at him.

Lelouch opened the scrunched ball of paper and flattened it out on the table. Before he even noticed the words, he noticed the picture. It was Kallen arm-in-arm with a boy Lelouch recognized as her boyfriend printed in black and white. He then looked down at the words. "Lacrosse Captain. Student Council Rep. Escort?" printed in bold lettering.

"Do you know how many guys came up to me this morning about this?" Kallen said angrily.

"More so than usual?" Lelouch joked.

"Lulu!" Shirley scolded.

"Just kidding!" Lelouch said. "But I probably know who did this."

"Then he or she must be responsible for this too," Rivalz said throwing a newspaper at him. Lelouch recognized it as their school paper. He never bothered to read it as it was mostly gossip anyways.

Lelouch picked it up nonetheless and looked at the article that Rivalz left open to. It was an exposé on the student council apparently. As Lelouch read on, he grew angrier and angrier. This confirmed it.

"Mao…" Lelouch grumbled angrily.

The others looked at him.

"This," he gestured at the newspaper, "Everything, was probably Mao's doing."

"Mao? The exchange student?" Shirley asked.

Lelouch merely nodded.

"Why would he spread such horrible lies?" Nina said, on the verge of tears.

Lelouch gestured for everyone to sit down as he began explain all that's happened to him the past week about Mao. He just now noticed that C.C. wasn't there. The newspaper article highlighted all the rumors the past week about each of the student council members. Not only were they accused of stealing money, there were "dark secrets" revealed about each of the members as well. Lelouch was accused of playing multiple girls. Nina was accused of being a lesbian. Rivalz was accused of working in a bar despite his age and drinks a lot because of his job. Shirley's was closer what the group was accused of, as treasurer; she was skimming the swim club's funds. Suzaku wasn't really accused of anything but being Lelouch's accomplice and that such corruption was unbefitting of the prime minister's son. There was nothing on Euphie, Milly, and C.C. The article ended with the phrase, "do we really want these people to run our student government next year?" It was also credited to an anonymous student.

After Lelouch finished his explanation, everyone was silent as they pondered what he just told them.

Milly spoke up first, "Why wasn't there anything on me, Euphie, and C.C. then?"

"You're graduating so there's really no point in slandering you, though Mao already has with the group accusation. He's obsessed over C.C. As for Euphie, you couldn't tell she was part of the student council unless told directly anyways." Lelouch explained.

"Was he stalking me or something?" Kallen said, pointing at the wrinkled poster.

"Probably."

"My father is going kill me once he gets word of this," Suzaku groaned, "Especially since it might tarnish his political career."

"The girls in the swim club are going to hate me," Shirley whined.

What it said about Rivalz was partially true. He did work in a bar but he didn't drink. Not to Lelouch's knowledge anyways.

Nina just whimpered.

"That's enough!" Milly said with authority. "We know who did this so we can just come out with the truth."

"Not really," Lelouch said. "We know Mao did it because he personally threatened me but that was in private. As far as the public is concerned, it's an 'anonymous student'."

"In short, no one will believe us." Rivalz said in defeat.

"What does he stand to gain by doing this?" Kallen asked. "Does he want the presidency that badly?"

"It's probably not even about the election anymore," Lelouch said. "He wants to ruin me."

"Then why are there rumors about us?" Kallen countered.

"Who knows…?"

Just then, the tone for a special announcement came on and the principal's voice rang through the speakers. "Will the following students please come to my office; Nina Einstein, Shirley Fenette, Rivalz Cardemonde, Kouzuki Kallen, Kururugi Suzaku, and Lelouch Lamperouge. Thank you." The principal finished.

"I guess the administration has gotten word of our corruption," Lelouch said jokingly.

Rivalz just groaned again, followed by everyone else.

"I'll go with you guys," Milly offered. "As the current president and the Ashford heiress, I might be able to do something."

"I'll come too," Euphie said.

"No," Lelouch and Suzaku said in unison.

"Go back to class Euphie," Lelouch said.

"Since you're not directly involved, just let us handle it." Suzaku said.

"Alright…" Euphie said, giving in to her brother and boyfriend.

The accused made their way out the door along with Milly toward the principal's office. It felt awfully childish, such an act, as if they were back in elementary school being reprimanded by the principal. However, they knew that their accusations were serious and they could be expelled or even arrested for it. They arrived and Lelouch knocked on the door before opening and leading his friends in. The principal was not sitting behind the desk, but the chairman himself. The principal, along with other older men and women, stood behind the chairman.

"Grandfather! Why are you here?" Milly asked in surprise.

"I guess this ridiculous rumor was much more serious than I thought," Lelouch said gravely.

The principal's office was a spacious room with bookshelves filled with things from novels to binders of documents to random ornaments on either side as you enter. The large oak desk was placed at the end in front of a giant window that overlooked the school grounds. Couches and a coffee table sat at one side of the room for guests but the student council were not there as guests. There were no chairs for the student council members to sit in so they stood shoulder to shoulder.

"Do you know what the student body is saying about all of you?" Milly's grandfather, the chairman, said to the gathered students.

It was Milly who responded. "Is this really necessary?"

"Milly, you're not involved in this so stay out," the chairman said without looking at her, but rather to the group.

"They are just baseless rumors and all lies, sir." Lelouch replied calmly.

"It's obvious that this person just wants to ruin our reputations!" Kallen said angrily.

"Rumors or not, the administration still must investigate these accusations." The chairman cut in.

"Then investigate, we have not done anything wrong." Suzaku said, stepping up.

"Investigate, we will," one of the older gentlemen behind the chairman said seriously.

"We must still question you however," a woman said. "In the interest of time, we'll question all you at once.

"Is it true that you work in a bar, Mr. Cardemonde?" the chairman asked. "Don't bother to lie, we will find out."

"Well…uh…" Rivalz started nervously, trying to think of an excuse. "Yes I work in a bar but I've never drank alcohol. Honest! I'll even do a breathalyzer test or whatever other tests."

"Underage drinking aside, it is against school policies for students to work part-time." The woman from before replied.

"Well I don't work there per se…" Rivalz said nervously.

"Then what is it? You've just said a moment ago that you work there." The woman said sharply.

"My uncle owns the place and I help out every now and then," Rivalz said rather quickly.

"Uncle huh?" the woman said, disbelief clear in her voice.

Lelouch decided to go along with this to help out his friend. "Yes, his distantly related uncle owns the bar. He has always been fond of Rivalz so he thought this might teach him a little about the real world. It's not a real job though; Rivalz is really just helping out, consider it volunteering."

Rivalz looked at his friend with wide eyes but Lelouch quickly jabbed him with his elbow.

Rivalz caught on. "Yeah, and he's really strict about me drinking and never lets me take a sip of the stuff." Rivalz said casually.

"We shall see," the woman said.

"Ms. Einstein," the chairman started. Nina jumped at her name. "We do not discriminate but for the sake of order, I would like to request that you keep your…other interests…to yourself."

"Of…of course," Nina said weakly, looking down in embarrassment.

Lelouch sighed. She didn't even bother to defend herself. At least she wasn't in any sort of trouble for it.

"Kouzuki Kallen," the chairman said, using her full name instead of just her last name like everyone else.

"Before you start sir," Kallen cut in rather rudely. "That poster is a pure lie with a picture that could be easily mistaken."

"You were still seen with a boy at night in a rather intimate position," The chairman said.

"I did not realize dating was against school rules," Kallen said.

"It's not though we recommend our students not get into any such relationships," the chairman said. "The question is whether it was really what it seemed."

"Grandfather, I can vouch for her." Milly said. "I and the other members of the student council have met the young man in the poster before. Kallen was not doing anything shameful."

"He goes to another school but he came to one of our festivals," Lelouch said.

The others nodded in agreement while Kallen stared defiantly at the chairman.

"How do we know you don't meet other men?" another older gentleman said behind the chairman. He had a rather inquisitive expression and his eyes were moving up and down as if analyzing Kallen.

Kallen was about to rush forward but Lelouch pulled her back before saying, "neither side can prove their point so this comes down to trust doesn't it?"

"Very well…" the chairman said hesitantly. "We'll take your word for it…"

"Thank you Mr. Chairman," Lelouch said.

"Well Mr. Lamperouge, your case is a bit more serious, as is with Ms. Fenette." The chairman replied. "As for you Kururugi, as the prime minister's son, you should know better."

"Grandfather, as the student council president I keep a close watch on our finances and I can assure you neither Lelouch or Shirley or anyone in the council stole money."

"Ms. Fenette is the treasurer, correct?" the chairman asked.

"Yes," Shirley replied sharply.

"Mr. Chairman, all of these accusations can be cleared with a simple investigation." Lelouch said. "If you want, we can even provide the log book for the past two years as proof."

"Very well, we'll postpone possible consequences until the investigation is complete." The chairman replied.

The council members left the office after that. Class had already begun so the halls were empty as they made their way back to the student council room. Not one of them felt like going to class so they just hung out in the meeting room. Milly was just there for moral support.

"So what do we do now?" Shirley asked.

"We need to clear our names of course!" Kallen said.

"The administrators believe us right?" Nina asked.

"Doesn't matter, as long as these rumors keep circulating," Kallen said to her. "We have to clear up these misunderstandings ourselves." She turned to Lelouch, "this is your fault, you know."

"Hey Kallen, Lelouch didn't…" Suzaku started.

"No this is my fault, I guess." Lelouch said, cutting his best friend off. "Mao is after me and in turn, all of you, all over a girl."

"A girl?" Rivalz asked.

"C.C. right?" Milly said knowingly.

"Never thought I'd get into this kind of mess," Lelouch sighed.

00000

_A/N: long wait? I've been reading more than writing lately. You must all hate me by now. I've also been getting into my translation work because Onemanga has decided to take down all their material as well as a few other manga reader sites. How does that affect anything? To me, a scanlator, it feels like our era of scanlations is about to come to an end so I've been working to try and keep it going for as long as possible. Oh and I also got Persona 3 portable (main culprit but the other factors played a huge role too). And I've been stuck, this is my least favorite arc of the story…also I've been pretty depressed lately._

_I haven't updated in a long time but this is not the first Kallen's uh…boyfriend appeared._


	23. Chapter 23

_A/N: Yeah I know it's been a while. This semester turned out busier than I thought it would be. I want this to finish as much as you do too. I had wanted to post this last night so everyone would wake up to a new a chapter but by the time I finished writing, it was already 2:00 AM and I didn't want to edit while tired. I normally write a Christmas themed fic around this time of the year but this is more important, I guess the fact that the timeframe of this fic heading into December is close enough._

**Disclaimer: is this even necessary anymore? I don't own Code Geass.**

**Chapter 23**

Lelouch lay awake in bed that night, thinking about everything that has happened so far. There should be a simple solution to the problem with Mao, but he just couldn't come up with anything. Mao was clearly not interested in the student council presidency and was just trying to destroy Lelouch's reputation in front of C.C. which seemed very childish. Normally, Lelouch would not care what girls thought of him but this time was different. C.C…she's the immediate problem that Lelouch has to resolve before being able to deal with Mao. Lelouch sat up as he thought about the cold shoulder C.C. has been giving him lately. What could Mao possibly have done or say to her to make her so upset with him. Lelouch did not get the impression that C.C. was easily fazed by anything so Mao's words or action must have been potent.

Lelouch looked over at the digital clock on his nightstand which read 2:30 AM. He picked up his cell phone which was resting on the same nightstand. What better way to figure out how a girl thinks than asking a girl? Lelouch looked through his contact list and decided to call Kallen, the sensible one of the girls. The phone rang for over a minute before someone answered.

"Hel'o…" the voice grunted.

"Kallen?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes…who this?" Kallen asked. She was obviously sleeping but Lelouch did not care.

"It's me, Lelouch. I need your advice."

There was silence for a moment before Kallen replied. "Do you know what time it is?" she asked sleepily.

"I know it's late but…"

"Good night Lelouch." Kallen interrupted and hung up.

"Kallen, you still awake? Hey!" Lelouch said urgently but it was too late.

Lelouch closed his phone and thought about which of the girls he could call. Nina was a smart girl but he doesn't think that Nina would be able to help much. Shirley would just be awkward even though she would probably be the most knowledgeable about this kind of stuff. The only choice left was Milly. Yes, Milly would be perfect as she would be able to judge this situation between Lelouch and C.C. objectively. Lelouch opened his phone again and selected Milly's name from the list. The phone rang for about half a minute before someone picked up.

"Hello?" Milly said.

"Milly, sorry for calling so late, were you sleeping?" Lelouch asked, remembering Kallen.

"Well you calling this late, it must be something important and juicy." Milly said. Lelouch could almost hear the huge grin on her face. "Sleep can be caught up. What's up?"

Lelouch took a breath to think about how he was going word it. "It's about C.C., she's been acting kind of cold towards me lately." Lelouch said.

"Oh, Lelouch having girl troubles, jackpot!" Milly screamed.

"Milly, this is not the time for your teasing!" Lelouch said, annoyed.

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist. I'm serious now so tell your dear Milly what's happened between the two of you." Milly said, letting her giggles die off into a serious tone.

Lelouch grumbled, "That's the thing, I don't know what happened! We were okay one day and she's telling me off it the next!"

"Oh?" Milly said inquisitively.

"It was after that Saturday we all hung out separately." Lelouch said.

"Ah, the girls' day out." Milly said knowingly.

"Karin barged in on us; me, Suzaku, Gino and the others, and dragged me away with some lame excuse." Lelouch explained. "Thinking back, I should have never believed her. She just lies."

"Oh like you never lie," Milly said.

"That's not the point!" Lelouch countered, before continuing. "Apparently, Mao was following along taking pictures. He and Karin had it all set up. She would make it look like a date while Mao took incriminating photos."

"So you were framed," Milly said.

"Yes…" Lelouch replied. "Wait, was that a pun?"

Milly started laughing again.

"Milly!" Lelouch yelled.

"Sorry, that just came out." Milly said. "It wasn't intentional and you were the one who pointed it out."

"I'm hanging up now," Lelouch said.

"Wait!" Milly yelled.

Lelouch put the phone back to his ear.

"I'm listening now Lelouch, so just say what you have to say," Milly said. "I'm serious."

Lelouch finished telling her everything else, about the confrontation in the classroom, the confrontation with Mao in the hallways, what he heard Karin say behind the gym to Mao, everything.

"It sounds like C.C. isn't mad at you about Karin." Milly said. "It doesn't seem like she's mad at all."

"Then what did she mean when she said she couldn't forgive me?" Lelouch asked. "Why is she acting like this?"

"Who knows?" Milly said, sounding uninterested for some reason. "It's something you'll have to ask her yourself."

"I tried that, if you've been listening." Lelouch replied before he realized something. "You know something don't you?"

"Do I?" Milly said innocently.

"Tell me what is it Milly," Lelouch said sternly.

"Nope, it's something the two of you will have to work out." Milly said.

"I told you…"

"Why don't you try going to her place tomorrow?" Milly suggested. "I'd suggest right now but the trains stopped running hours ago and it's kind of creepy to visit a girl like that in the middle of the night, despite how movies portray it as romantic."

Lelouch thought about it. That doesn't sound like such a bad idea. "Thanks Milly." He said softly.

"No problem, what are friends for?" Milly said; the smirk evident in her voice.

"Then Kallen must not be my friend," Lelouch joked.

00000

The next morning, Lelouch took Milly's advice and went to C.C.'s apartment. Rather than have Tamaki drive him, he decided to take the train instead. Lelouch was unique in that respect. For someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he did not like to flaunt his money and status around like most of his peers. Lelouch even knew how to cook, and was quite skilled at it, which surprises most people. Today, he utilized that skill and made a pizza. If nothing else, bribery guaranteed some results. His homemade pizza was kept in the bag that pizza places uses to keep their deliveries warm.

This was not Lelouch's first time here. The last time was just before he left for America at the beginning of summer vacation. He remembered that day quite vividly.

The building itself was as he remembered it. It was not shabby and run down but it wasn't anything luxurious either. The elevator was well maintained but it was no different than how any normal elevators were. Lelouch had experienced places where the elevators were carpeted; rails of gilded metal lined the mirrored walls, with an attendant inside to push the buttons for you. That must be the most boring and easiest job in the world. When he arrived at her door, he took a deep breath and pressed the buzzer. No response. Lelouch tried again and this time waited for a full minute.

"Guess I should have called ahead to make sure she was home," Lelouch sighed as he took out his phone. The digital clock read 12:50 p.m. "though I have a feeling she won't even pick up."

"You should," a voice from Lelouch's right said. "I could've been in the shower or something and came out in a towel."

"C.C.!" Lelouch gasped in surprise. The girl was standing to his right dressed casually in jeans, a shirt, and a thin jacket. "You were out?"

"I went out for breakfast," C.C. explained simply.

"Oh," was all Lelouch could say. He looked to the side awkwardly as C.C. approached him.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the large package in his hands.

"Since you already ate, it's pointless."

"It smells like pizza."

"Yes, wait…how did you?" Lelouch turned to her in shock. He lifted the package in his hands up to his face and couldn't smell anything.

"So it is…" C.C. smirked.

"Witch…" Lelouch muttered.

"So what did you come here so early in the morning for?" C.C. asked as she unlocked her front door.

This was the first time Lelouch had to do something like this, asking sincerely for forgiveness. He had always treaded carefully around girls or avoided relationships so he never had to worry about offending anyone and had to apologize. Even if he did offend a girl, he wasn't obligated back then to do anything. So it was hard for him to put into words what he wanted.

"To talk…I guess," Lelouch said uncertainly.

C.C. looked over her shoulder at Lelouch as she stood with her back to him at the doorway. "Then come in first."

"Sorry for intruding…" Lelouch said, according to Japanese custom when entering someone else's home. However, they were both not Japanese which would mean it was unnecessary for them. Force of habit on Lelouch's part from the times he went to Suzaku's mansion.

This was the first time Lelouch stepped inside C.C.'s apartment. The entry way was narrow but it was meant for one person so not surprising. The kitchen was right around the corner to the left after entering and it was separated from the living room by a counter. The living room itself was bigger than it needs to be for one person with two couches and a wooden coffee table cluttered with paper and pizza boxes in the center. The large flat screen TV was in the far corner of the room, directly in front of the entrance. There were two doors on the left side of the room which Lelouch guessed led to the bedroom and restroom. A large sliding glass door filled the wall directly in front of the kitchen which led to a balcony and lit the room with natural light. On top of the window to the corner, directly above the TV was an air conditioning unit. Overall, it was a nice apartment and Lelouch could tell her family was pretty well off to be able to afford this for her.

"Nice place…" Lelouch said the only thing that came to his mind at that moment. It was a start at the very least.

Of course, one would have to expect the usual response to these kinds of compliments. The response that sends you back to square one, "Thanks" was all C.C. said.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two teens as they stood near the entryway.

"Take a seat," C.C. said, gesturing to the living room. "I'll make some tea, or would you prefer something else?"

"Tea is fine," Lelouch responded promptly.

As C.C. turned into the kitchen to prepare the said tea, Lelouch made his way to one of the black leather couches. He set his home made treat on the coffee table on top of all the trash since there was really no room anywhere else. Lelouch took a look around the room again. He noticed a small shelf that was hidden from his first examination because it was right by the kitchen on the left side of the room from the entryway. There were a few pictures hanging on the walls, all of which showed C.C. with an older woman with the same hair color as her but cut short.

C.C. must have seen him staring at the pictures from the kitchen since it was connected to the living room because she said, "that's my mother."

Lelouch turned around to look at her, "I presumed as much."

"People tend to think she's my sister though," C.C. said with a hint of a smile.

"Well she is quite beautiful."

"Thanks, though I thought you've heard of her before since my mother and your mother used to be friends."

"Maybe I have but just never realized it, who knows." There was a slight pause. The pot could be heard whistling signaling that the water is done boiling. "So where's your mother?"

"England." As Lelouch tried to come up with something interesting to say that isn't too stereotypical, C.C. started up again. "She's French though."

"So you're half English, half French?" Lelouch asked, slightly surprised.

"Oui," C.C. replied. She walked over with a tray carrying two ceramic cups of tea. When she reached the coffee table, she held balanced one end of the tray on the table and swept the trash from the table to the ground. This surprised Lelouch because he'd never thought he'd see a well-mannered high society young lady doing such a thing. Then again, he'd never thought she would leave such a mess on the table in the first place. Maybe Lelouch was too used to having a maid. She placed the tray on the cleared portion of the table and opened Lelouch's package.

"Home made pizza?" C.C. asked as she looked at the contents. She sat down on the other couch, a picture of her when she was maybe twelve years old with her mother hung above her.

"How could you tell?"

"It looks much healthier." C.C. grabbed a slice and took a bite. Lelouch could only look at her and wonder if her stomach is a bottomless void when it comes to pizza. "Give my compliments to your chef."

"You can do it right now." Lelouch said smugly.

C.C. looked at him with raised eyebrows as she munched on.

"I made it and thank you for the compliment." Lelouch said in his best attempt to sound conceited.

C.C. stopped biting on the pizza and looked at it, then at Lelouch, then back again. "I won't doubt your cooking ability for now but bribing me with pizza huh?" C.C. smirked. "So what do you want?" She began eating again.

Lelouch took a sip of tea before he began. "We need to talk."

"You told me that outside. What do you want to talk about?"

"You know exactly what," Lelouch said exasperatedly.

"No I don't," C.C. said. Lelouch could clearly hear the mocking tone behind that.

"I'm sorry," Lelouch muttered. "Whatever it is I've done to wrong you, I'm sorry."

"Hm…the great Lelouch apologizing, this is a first," C.C. hummed. "But you don't sound sincere enough."

Lelouch gritted his teeth in anger. He was losing his patience and would have exploded but he was able to calm himself with some deep breaths. Every time he talked with this girl, he would end up annoyed, angry, or out witted; yet, Lelouch would not like it any other way. He wasn't a masochist by his own standards but he enjoyed her company, her witty remarks, and her catty smile. She was a breath of fresh air compared to the majority of girls at Ashford Academy. Lelouch thought about everything that's happened since meeting C.C. When she first showed up, it felt like she just barged into his life. What was supposed to be a simple orientation for a new student turned into this bond of friendship, well it really couldn't be called friendship but Lelouch could not think of another word for it. Does he think of her as a nuisance? Perhaps initially but not anymore. Did he regret meeting her? No. Why is he working so hard to get back on her good graces? When he offended Kallen or Shirley or Nina, it was always Milly who fixed everything. However, this time was different. It was not that Milly refused to help when he asked, Lelouch was rather glad she refused now that he thought about it. This was something he needed to do on his own, that's because C.C. has become someone important to him, as important as Nunnally and Euphie perhaps. Yes, he liked her. It was too early to say love. If he liked her, he should be willing to throw aside his honor for her.

C.C. wanted sincerity so Lelouch thought about what he could do. He had never seriously apologized to a girl before except for Nunnally and Euphie…Euphie. Lelouch suddenly remembered an incident from a while back when Suzaku and Euphie first started dating. There was a huge misunderstanding where Euphie thought Suzaku cheated on her. No matter what Suzaku said, she wouldn't believe him. So Suzaku showed up one day at their mansion and kowtowed in front of Euphie, Lelouch, and their entire family. It was an interesting night because it was the first time Lelouch had seen their father left speechless. Euphie had promptly kicked him out and shut herself in her room that entire night. According to Suzaku a couple of days later, Euphie had only kicked him because it was too embarrassing to talk to him in front of her family and they made up the next day, privately.

'Well, if it worked for Suzaku then why not for me…' Lelouch thought to himself.

Lelouch stood up and walk around the coffee table so he was directly in front of C.C. She merely followed him with her eyes as he stood in front of her. Suddenly, Lelouch went down on his knees, placed both hands on either side, and planted his forehead on the hardwood floor.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not knowing what I'm sorry for. I'm sorry for being insensitive. I'm sorry for hanging out with Karin then brushing it aside like it meant nothing to you. I've only been thinking about me. Everything I've done up to now is for myself so I'm sorry for not considering what you want." Lelouch looked up to see her reaction. C.C. had stopped chewing her pizza and her eyes were wide in surprise. "I don't have much experience with girls so I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Although I suppose ignorance is not an excuse. Sorry."

C.C. didn't say anything. There was only a thick silence between them that couldn't exactly be called awkward. Lelouch was wondering whether he should add to what he already said. As he was trying to come up with something to say, he suddenly heard laughter. He looked up to see C.C. rolling on the couch, laughing like a hyena. Lelouch stared at C.C. with eyes wide, still prostrated on the cold floor which was starting to get warm from his body heat. Why was she laughing? Though this was the first time Lelouch heard her laugh in such a manner but the shock prevented him from enjoying the sound of her laughter.

C.C. finally stopped after a minute or so and sat up straight. As she was wiping tears from her eyes, said "you're overdoing it."

"What?"

"Why are you going so far?" C.C. asked, still giggling slightly. "Home made pizza and prostrating in my living room?"

'Damn…' Lelouch thought. 'How am I supposed to answer her? Just come out with it?'

"Well?" C.C. prodded.

"Because…I couldn't…stand being ignored…by you…" Lelouch let out slowly.

"Oh?" C.C. looked intrigued. "Why not?"

All or nothing. "Because I like you! At first I couldn't stand your annoying remarks but over time I started to fall for you. Sure this may sound cliché but this is the only way for me to explain it. I like you so I couldn't stand the fact that you were giving me the cold shoulder!" Lelouch had let it all out in one breath. He was still on the ground but he was now sitting seiza style.

There was another moment of thick silence.

"That was rather pathetic," C.C. said lamely. "I thought confessions are supposed to be romantic."

There it was again. Lelouch felt a twinge of annoyance shoot through him but he held it in. He had just poured his heart out in front of her and disgraced himself at the same time and that was all she could say.

"Stand up," she said, suddenly looking away.

Lelouch did as he was told. It was best not to argue right now anyways.

"That's better," C.C. said.

Lelouch waited anxiously. He had not planned to confess his feelings today. He didn't want to do it like this but circumstances called for it. He hadn't really thought about it but he wanted it to be romantic too.

"You're lucky, you know that." C.C. said looking up at Lelouch, as he was still standing.

"What?" was all Lelouch could say.

"That confession was really pathetic but I could tell you're serious," C.C. said rather sheepishly. "You're lucky that I like you too…but you have to work on your delivery from now on."

Lelouch did not know what to say at this point and just stood there in a daze. This was his first time confessing to a girl and first time that a girl accepted. Well if it was a rejection, it would still have been a first for him since he has been doing the rejecting up to this point. Lelouch just stayed silent, though he felt he was supposed to say something.

"Well…?" C.C. continued. "Say something…"

That seemed to have snapped Lelouch out of his daze and he collapsed on his knees and breathed a huge sigh of relief. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he laid his head on the coffee table.

"What?" C.C. snapped. "Was it that troublesome?"

"No…well yes, I don't know anymore." Lelouch opted to just fall back and lay on the hard floor which had returned to being cold after his body had left it for the brief period when he was standing.

00000

Karin lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as the TV showed some Japanese slapstick comedy act. She wasn't paying attention though; it was just background noise for her so it won't be too quiet. She was thinking about her involvement with Mao and at the same time, her family. She regretted getting involved with Mao, she realized that the white haired teen was pretty messed up in the head. Perhaps she has been intimidated by him all this time. Who knows?

There was also what Mao said about her family. It was all true though it still puzzled her on how Mao discovered it. Lucky guess? Whatever it was, he had hit the nail on the head. Karin had wanted to forget about her biological parents. They were constantly in debt for one reason or another and when they died, the debt would've been passed onto her had the Maldini family not adopted her. Karin had always thought the Maldinis actually cared about her, especially her brother Kanon, but Mao's words and their recent actions have proven otherwise.

"What should I do?" Karin thought out loud.

00000

Mao hummed a sadistically happily tune as he walked from the dorms to Ashford Academy. Everything is going to according to plan, a few more prods and Lelouch would be forever disgraced and C.C. will be his. He'll also be student council president as a bonus. It was the middle of winter but the sun was bright with few clouds in the sky. If it wasn't for the chilly air and bald trees around campus, it would've been mistaken for spring or summer.

He walked into the school building and perked his ears up to catch a few students still gossiping about the whole scandal he created. Good, it was still fresh in people's minds. However, as he walked along the beautiful corridor, he saw the current student council president Milly Ashford walking ahead, talking to the short red haired girl from the student council. Mao quickened his pace to get within earshot of the two.

"So they're finally together huh?" the red head said, trying to sound disinterested. "About time, I was getting sick of watching those two."

"Well this was his first time so he's going to take some time," Milly said with a smile. "Perhaps she'll be many of Lelouch's firsts."

'Lelouch!' Mao thought frantically. 'It couldn't be.'

"President, please stop right there…" the red head sighed.

"What? Kallen! Don't tell me you…"

"Of course not!" Kallen snapped furiously.

"I was only kidding," Milly laughed. "But they look good together right? Lelouch and C.C."

"I suppose," Kallen sighed again.

Mao stood there, dumbstruck. Lelouch and C.C. together? Since when? What is this new twisted development? His plan was coming along perfectly so this shouldn't have happened. What could've happened? Mao turned around and stumbled back outside. He walked aimlessly as he thought about the current situation. This was not something he had planned. As he walked along deep in thought, he bumped right into a trio of girls wearing the middle school uniform.

"Ah sorry!" a girl with long light brown hair and purple eyes said apologetically. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Nunnally! Why are you apologizing?" A girl with twin ponytails said brusquely. "He was the one who bumped into us."

"But…" the girl named Nunnally started.

"Hey you!" the ponytail girl turned to Mao. "Just because you're from the high school section, don't think you can just pick on middle school students."

"Let's go," the last girl, a girl with long blond hair said to the two.

The trio walked away but not before ponytails blew a raspberry at Mao. Mao just looked at them. That was Nunnally Lamperouge. A sadistic smile appeared on Mao's face again. "If slander doesn't work I guess I have to take a more direct approach, Lelouch…"

_A/N: I didn't want to put Mao and Karin in this chapter initially but I needed to advance the plot to the last phase of the Mao arc soon. So yeah, we're getting to the end of the Mao arc, one or two more chapters, maybe three. I made C.C.'s mother French because in canon, C.C. was supposed to be Joan of Arc in the Code Geass universe's history. So I'm essentially making C.C. her own mother…_


	24. Chapter 24

_A/N: I imported Code Geass Lost Colors for the PSP. Just thought I'd share. You know, since Code Geass ended in 2008, I wonder if people will continue reading Code Geass fanfictions. I probably would because CG was such a great series and there are so many possibilities but I don't know about others. Thoughts?_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 24**

The news of Lelouch and C.C.'s new relationship spread like a wildfire through the school, the arsonist being Milly Ashford. It had been a sad, sad day for the female populace of Ashford Academy. Normally Lelouch would have scolded Milly for butting into other people's business but he decided to let it go this time because he knew Milly meant no harm by it. C.C. did not seem too bothered by it; she could deal with the petty bullying by a few girls who could not accept the new development. Lelouch was surprised that Karin wasn't one of them; she has been really quiet as of late. Mao also seemed to have stepped down since the news spread and that worried Lelouch slightly but Lelouch had won, what could Mao do?

It was a little ways into December and as such, it had been getting chillier. Lelouch offered to pick C.C. up for school but she insisted on keeping to the usual routine. "Don't be so clingy, especially this early." She had told him. Lelouch walked along the hallway towards his classroom. The pleasure of riding a car to school was that one did not have to stick to train schedules and so when he opened the door, he saw that C.C. was already here talking to Suzaku and Kallen. Shirley was standing off to the side, looking as if she was part of the conversation and not at the same time.

"Hey Lelouch," Suzaku greeted upon seeing his best friend approach them. He had been the first person Lelouch told the news to after he returned home that day. "Are you ready for your obligatory speech next week?"

"I'll just do what I usually do," Lelouch said off-handedly. "It always worked out."

"Are you sure you should be so carefree about this?" C.C. asked with a smirk. "Or is this how you act when you're nervous."

"I'll have you know that public speaking is one of my strong points," Lelouch turned towards her with a smile, "even if I may not look like it."

"I beg to differ," C.C. replied promptly.

"Wrong!" someone suddenly yelled. They all looked towards the short blue haired teen approaching them. It was Rivalz. "This isn't how a couple is supposed to act, come on you two!"

"Oh and how are you supposed to know how a couple acts?" Kallen said to Rivalz caustically, "I think you're the least qualified to judge relationships here."

"Come on Lelouch, you and C.C. are the talk of the school." Rivalz said, and then turned to Suzaku. "Did they kiss when they saw each other this morning? Or came to school together? Or have they snuck off and…"

Whatever Rivalz was about to say was cut off as Shirley stood up suddenly, glaring at him. "Rivalz, could you be anymore insensitive?"

"Uh…sorry," Rivalz said apologetically.

Lelouch, realizing why Shirley was so worked up, decided to change the subject. Guess she hasn't completely let go yet. "So Suzaku, you seriously decided to run for Vice President."

"Huh?" Suzaku said confused, before catching on. "Oh yeah, I said I would didn't I?"

"Kallen has my vote," C.C. said. Kallen had decided to challenge Suzaku for the post of Vice President. Lelouch was quite surprised when Kallen nominated herself.

"You transferred here just this year so you don't know," Rivalz said, walking over to Suzaku's side. "When Lelouch and Suzaku work together, they can do anything. So I have to go with my man Suzaku."

"That's not really…" Suzaku laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh don't be so modest!" Rivalz punched him on the shoulders.

"Well that's what I'm afraid of," Kallen said and pointed thumb at Lelouch, "someone has to keep him in check."

"I think that's C.C.'s job." Rivalz was grinning like an idiot.

Kallen just glared at him, which was enough to wipe the grin off. The bell signaling homeroom went off and they had to cut their conversation short as classes started.

00000

As everyone was in class, Mao walked through the deserted hallways of Ashford Academy without interference. He walked casually down the stairs to the first floor and headed in the direction opposite of the classrooms and offices. Mao knew what he was looking for as he checked the doors he walked by until he saw one with an electronic lock. Looking around him to make absolutely sure no one was around; he took out a card and slid it down the lock. The red light flashed green and the click of the lock could be heard.

He had hacked into the school's security cameras to play in a loop the previous night so he did not have to worry about the camera staring down at him as he pulled open the door, and the cameras inside wherever he just entered. The loop will continue to play until someone notice but that shouldn't be for a while. As for the keycard, he had used a common card skimmer that credit card thieves use and made a copy of a faculty member's keycard. If anything, you can't say he was not prepared.

Mao walked down the dark staircase on the other side of the door and arrived in dimly lit, damp, and hot room where various pipes ran along the ceiling that was connected to large cylinders along the walls. The room was not small but it wasn't big either. This was one of many rooms that made the basement system of Ashford Academy.

Mao looked around, before smiling maliciously. "Perfect"

00000

Morning classes had finished and it was time for lunch. The students stretched after sitting in class for so long while others were already out the door as soon as the bell rang. Nunnally took out the lunch that Sayoko made for her and her brother everyday and walked over to Alice and Nemo who were already waiting by the door.

The three girls walked together and exited the building where their classrooms were located. In order to get to the courtyard, they had to walk by the high school section's building and as they round a corner, Nunnally bumped right into a high school student carrying a stack of boxes filled with paper and binders.

"Oh sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Nunnally apologized frantically.

"No it's fine," the high school student said, scratching his white hair in nervousness. "I couldn't see where I was going either."

Alice recognized the high school student as the person they bumped into last time, literally. "Hey, aren't you the guy from the other day?" Alice asked brusquely. "Are you stalking us or something?"

"Alice!" Nunnally gasped and turned to the stunned looking high school boy. "Sorry about my friend."

"Stalker…" Nemo muttered behind them.

"I'm not!" the white haired male defended himself. Middle school girls can be quite cruel with their words.

"Nemo!" Nunnally scolded. She almost sounded like a mother. "Take my lunch and go on ahead with Alice, I'm going to help him gather his things first."

"You don't have to, you know." Alice sighed.

"But I did bump into him."

Alice looked at her friend in exasperation. "You're too nice for your own good Nunnally. Call us if something happens." Alice then looked at the high school boy uncertainly. He was wearing sunglasses but seemed to have a look of confusion on his face as he looked at the three girls who surrounded him.

"I'll be fine," Nunnally assured her friend with a smile as she handed her lunch over to Nemo. "I'll meet you two at the usual spot."

Alice walked away, looking back occasionally at Nunnally. When they were out of sight, Nunnally turned to the white hair boy. "Sorry," she said again.

The boy chuckled slightly, a somewhat forced chuckle. "You've apologized enough."

"Well let me help you carry some of this," Nunnally offered as she started putting the spilled contents back into the boxes.

"Are you sure? It's pretty heavy."

"I can carry at least one box," Nunnally said indignantly.

"Well thanks for your help then," the boy stacked two of the boxes and stood up. "What's your name?"

"Nunnally," she stood up, carrying the box she said she could carry. "You?"

"Mao," the white haired boy answered.

"Nice to meet you, Mao," Nunnally smiled. "So where are we taking these?"

"Oh, just a basement storage room," Mao answered nonchalantly.

00000

Alice and Nemo sat at their usual stone table in the courtyard, waiting for Nunnally but she still hasn't shown up after ten minutes. Alice had sent her a text but there was no response. Alice considered the fact that Nunnally might have decided to help the guy carry the stuff as well but she didn't know where and this campus was quite big. She was worried, that guy looked pretty suspicious.

After another five minutes, Alice decided to call Nunnally. Whatever it was, she should be able to answer her phone. She didn't. If it was because she was busy or had her hands full, Alice wouldn't be so worried but it was because her phone was turned off. Why would she have it off at a time like this?

Nemo looked at Alice scrutinizing her phone. "What's wrong?"

"It's Nunnally…" Alice said uncertainly.

"Did something happen?" Nemo asked with a slight panic in her voice.

"Her phones off…" Alice said simply.

The girls jumped up from their seats and ran to the spot where they were with Nunnally last. As Alice thought, she wasn't there anymore. She looked at Nemo and she nodded. That guy was a high school student so they headed into the high school building and started to look around. The other high school students watched the two in curiosity as it was pretty strange to see middle school students there. They asked around to see if anyone has seen Nunnally but no one did. They continued looking around until Nemo stopped.

"We should tell her brother," she said.

There wasn't much to think about but Alice hesitated. It was not that she disliked Lelouch but she knew he would be furious if he found out. He was too overprotective. "Alright," Alice finally agreed. "I don't have his number though."

"That's alright," Nemo said, taking out her phone. "I'll just call my cousin."

00000

Lelouch knew Mao would be up to something after he and C.C. started dating but he didn't know what or how far he would take it. When he asked C.C. what Mao was capable of, she only told him that Mao was so different than how he was as a child that she couldn't really say. So when Nunnally's friends, Alice and Nemo who found them after calling C.C. came and told him what happened, Lelouch could only berate himself for not taking precautions to protect Nunnally. He underestimated Mao; he didn't think he would go as low as targeting his family.

Lelouch and the student council immediately set out to search for Nunnally. As if on cue, Lelouch's phone went off and the caller was none other than…Nunnally? Alice and Nemo had told him that her phone was turned off. He answered and the voice on the other side was not the sweet melodious sound he was used to hearing.

"Good afternoon Lelouch," Mao drawled.

"Mao!" Lelouch said angrily. "What did you do to Nunnally?" The others gathered around him, trying to catch what Mao was saying.

"Oh don't worry," Mao said mockingly. "She should be taking a nap right now?"

"Where is she?"

"How cliché…you really think I'll tell you just because you ask me?"

"You better not have hurt her!"

"I won't…yet…"

C.C. grabbed the phone out of Lelouch's hands. "You're insane Mao, why are you doing this?"

"For you of course!"

Lelouch took his phone back while C.C. stood in shock. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Mao asked. "That's pretty simple. All I want is my C.C."

"And how is doing this supposed get her?" Lelouch asked. He was stalling now, trying to keep Mao talking so he would accidentally let slip Nunnally's location.

"Well that's up to you isn't it?" Mao laughed. "Who's more important, your precious little sister or a girl who you've known for less than a year?"

Lelouch knew he can't let himself be provoked by Mao but he can't be careless and provoke him too. He decided to play along and pretend to be provoked. "You bastard, let her go!"

Mao laughed louder at Lelouch's panicked voice. "Here's the deal, you will announce to the school that you and C.C. have broken up by the end of the school day and I'll tell you where I hid your sister. Simple right?"

So they have until school ends. Before Lelouch could respond, his phone was grabbed out of his hands again, this time by Alice. "How does that benefit you exactly? I mean, just because those two break up doesn't mean C.C. will go to you. What kind of adolescent thinking is that?"

Lelouch's face twitched. He was trying so hard not to provoke Mao. He also found it ironic that of all people, Alice was calling Mao's thinking adolescent. He snatched his phone back in time to hear Mao's words before he hung up. "Shut…shut up! You have until school ends damn it!"

"So he kidnapped Nunnally…" Euphie said with concern.

"We should call the police, or tell the teachers at least." Nina said fearfully.

That would be logical thing to do in most cases but not this time. "Mao is easily provoked as was proved by Alice's words. If we corner him, he'll do something drastic."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Rivalz asked.

"We have to find Nunnally and make sure she's safe first," Suzaku answered.

Exactly…" Lelouch confirmed. "We need to keep this as low profile as possible so Milly, don't tell the whole school to start searching."

"I wasn't going to," Milly defended herself.

"Who gave you the right to be in charge?" Alice asked suddenly. "You would never have found out if it weren't for us."

"I'm her brother," Lelouch said simply.

"So…" Alice answered sheepishly.

Lelouch continued. "Mao would have to be at a location where he can keep watch over us."

"The surveillance control room," Kallen provided.

"If he can get in," Milly said. "There's someone on duty 24/7. There's no way a student can just waltz in and stay."

"We'll split up and search the ground," Lelouch decided. "Nina goes with Milly, Rivalz with Shirley, C.C. with Kallen, and I'll go with Suzaku."

"What about me?" Euphie asked.

"You're going to class."

"No way, Nunnally is my little sister too."

"We'll handle it."

"No, I'm tired of always sitting on the sidelines while things happen around me." Euphie clenched her fists. "I'm going to help!"

"Why don't we let her, Lelouch?" Suzaku said sincerely.

"Fine," Lelouch gave in. They were wasting time. "Then you're going with Milly and Nina."

Euphie nodded in determination.

"What about us?" Alice asked. They had mostly ignored the middle girls until now.

Lelouch growled in frustration. "Okay fine, you and Nemo are together."

They split up in different directions to begin their search. Class had begun already but none of them cared. If a teacher asked, they'll write it off student council business for now. Once the whole thing blows over, the teachers will know. Lelouch and Suzaku headed off to the surveillance control room since that was the most likely location where Mao is. He'll probably keep Nunnally close but that's why Suzaku is here, to prevent him from hurting her. Lelouch knew his strength did not lie in physical ability.

Lelouch and Suzaku ran along the halls, Suzaku leading the way with Lelouch struggling to keep up. His will to find Nunnally was the only thing giving him strength to continue running. As he heaved along, he found it strange how they haven't encountered a teacher or security guard yet. Aside from the fact that they were just lucky and the security guards were in different parts of the building, they were blatantly running along under the cameras and the operators should have reported their presence already.

00000

Rivalz and Shirley went to check the pools and locker rooms around it. Those areas are usually pretty empty unless they were being used and none of the Physical Education classes were swimming today. Rivalz searched the boys' locker room while Shirley searched the girls' and when they found nothing; they checked supply rooms around the pool.

"I've been meaning to ask," Rivalz said as Shirley unlocked the bolt holding the doors of the supply room open. "Are you okay with Lelouch and C.C. dating?"

Shirley stopped but didn't turn around. "Whether I'm okay or not with it doesn't matter, does it?"

Rivalz knew he was broaching on a delicate subject. Shirley had told him about how Lelouch turned her down during the school festival a few months ago and he tried not to bring the subject up around her when Lelouch is around. He hadn't gotten around to asking Lelouch about it and he probably wouldn't, for now. "I'm just saying," Rivalz continued. They're alone and he was worried about her. "You've liked him since what, middle school?"

"I already decided," Shirley said with a sudden burst of determination. She turned around and faced Rivalz. "I'll wait. C.C. is Lelouch's first girlfriend right? There are very few times those works out in the long term."

"So…" Rivalz said uncertainly.

"I'm not going to try and break them up; I'm not that kind of girl." Shirley said indignantly. "Although I'm not a saint so I'm not going to be completely okay but I'll go along with it."

Rivalz looked unconvinced.

Shirley smiled. "Besides, I think you should worry more about what you'll do once Madam President graduates."

Rivalz blush bright red and said hastily. "I got something planned!"

00000

Alice and Nemo were in the large cafeteria. The others had most of campus covered and they figured the cafeteria had to be searched, even if it was very unlikely. As it was past lunch time already, the huge room was empty, the clacking of their shoes on the hard linoleum floor echoed. Without thinking they barged into the kitchen, much to the surprise of the kitchen staff.

"We're here on student council business," Alice said with authority. It was true, even if they were not part of the student council. The kitchen staff returned to their work.

"Once I find that white haired bastard, I'll strangle him to death!" Alice said angrily.

"Aren't we looking for Nunnally?" Nemo asked from behind her.

"Of course we are, I'm just saying once we find him at the end."

00000

Milly, Nina, and Euphie were in the area of the campus where the various club houses were located. Many of these buildings were unoccupied, even by the clubs that were supposed to use it since they were so far away from the classrooms. Many students found it easier to just do their activities in a classroom and use the club house space they were assigned for parties and storage.

Milly considered it lucky their group consisted of three people, that made searching the club houses much easier. Euphie looked like she was really into it, but that's to be expected as Nunnally was her sister too. The parents were something else but the children were so close…well some of them anyways. Milly smiled.

00000

Kallen and C.C. decided to check the storage sheds for the outdoor sports clubs since Kallen has access to them. Since they had no lead as to where Mao had hid Nunnally, they had little choice but to search everywhere.

"How do we know if Mao had even hid Nunnally on campus?" Kallen asked as she slammed the door to the baseball team's storage shed shut.

"We don't," C.C. responded behind her. "But considering the time he had on hand, he couldn't have gotten off campus."

"Also," Kallen turned on C.C. "Why is he so obsessed with you anyways?"

"Mao had always depended on others," C.C. explained. "He can do things on his own, the fact that he came to Japan just to look for me is proof enough, but he needs praise and recognition from someone."

"That means he'll listen to you," Kallen concluded.

"Probably," C.C. shrugged.

"What if you tell him to stop all this?" Kallen asked.

"To contradict what I just said; Mao only hears what he wants to hear." C.C. said. "He has his own image of me that always supports him and if anything I say to contradict that image, he'll just think I'm lying or I'm being manipulated or something."

"He's that far gone huh…" Kallen said, leaning against the door to the storage shed.

00000

Lelouch and Suzaku arrived at the surveillance control room, or rather it was Suzaku who arrived and waited for a heaving Lelouch to catch up. After Lelouch caught his breath, he knocked on the door. A burly man in a blue uniform that looked like a police officer's uniform without the insignias appeared. He looked at the two teens as if they had just disturbed something important.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm from the student council and we have some business to take care of," Lelouch said calmly. "I would like to go into the control room to check the surveillance footage."

"And what business do you have?" the man asked suspiciously.

"That's not important," Lelouch explained. "It would only take a moment."

"Students aren't allowed in here kid," the man said roughly, "If you want to look at security footage, go talk to the principle."

Lelouch was getting impatient. "Speaking of the principle, I'm sure you know his daughter is the student council president."

"Yeah…"

"As the vice-president I'm pretty close to her," Lelouch said; his voice full of implications. "You wouldn't want the principle to hear about how you treated his daughter's close friend."

The man's face had rapidly gone from the tough security guard to the cowering fool as Lelouch talked. Lelouch didn't like using his connections to blackmail others but such a situation calls for drastic measures.

"Alright but it's just between us, okay?" the man gave in.

"Right," Lelouch agreed and the man stepped aside for Lelouch and Suzaku to walk in.

The room's lighting was dim but the screens more than made up for the lack of proper lighting. One wall was covered entirely by monitors that received images from various cameras around the school. A control panel was under it with two seats for the two operators. A small table had been moved in and placed on the opposite wall where Lelouch could see the guards on duty had been snacking, playing cards, and other games from the small box under it. Lelouch decided to just ignore it, it must be a pretty boring job, but it might be that because they were being inattentive that Mao could get away.

"Well Mao isn't here," Suzaku stated.

"He doesn't have the influence to," Lelouch said, referring to how he just got in. He turned to the guards, "have you seen any suspicious activities recently, especially today?"

"Everything was normal as usual," the other man said, the burly man who opened the door sat back in his chair.

"You didn't see a white haired male walking alone in the hallways?" Lelouch questioned, "Possibly with a middle school girl."

"The halls were clear when classes were in session and there's no way we could spot and memorize a detail like that during breaks," the burly said, returning to his seat.

Lelouch looked at the monitors on the wall. That was certainly true; the hallways were empty, the only movement being the wind blowing through the open windows and rustling the curtains, breaking the shadows slanting across the floor to the right.

"What do you think, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked at his side. He too was looking at the monitors.

Lelouch clicked his tongue in anger. "Let's regroup and see what the others found." He left the control room with Suzaku behind him.

00000

Nunnally stirred, the sound of dripping water and the humming of pipes piercing her ears as she pushed herself up from the cold concrete floor. As she sat up, she winced in pain and clutched the back of her head. There was no bump but it throbbed as she pressed her fingers against the gentle area. Her vision was blurred initially but she blinked it away only to find herself in darkness. Nunnally crawled and felt her way to a wall and sat against it. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw pipes running along the ceiling and walls. That explained the sounds.

Nunnally reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone but it wasn't there. She patted herself down and felt around on the ground, thinking it could've slipped out of her pocket. The phone was nowhere to be found.

"Onii-sama…" Nunnally whimpered as she huddled against the wall. "I'm scared…"

00000

"Did you guys find Nunnally?" Lelouch asked as they all gathered outside in the courtyard, Alice and Nemo arrived last. They had searched for around half an hour and were not even through searching the entire campus yet. It was the best they could do with such a small group.

"Sorry dude," Rivalz said. He looked genuinely apologetic. Everyone shook their heads as Lelouch looked to them in turn and Euphie looked more disappointed than the others.

Lelouch stomped the ground and swore. He was about to go on a rant but his phone rang again. The caller ID showed Nunnally's name but Lelouch knew who it really was. He flipped the phone open but did not say anything.

"Did you have fun playing hide-and-seek?" Mao asked on the other line. He was enjoying this, from the sound of his voice.

"Mao you sadistic bastard, Nunnally had nothing to do with any of this!" Lelouch yelled into the phone. If Mao was surprised by Lelouch's yelling and ferocity, he didn't sound like it.

"Oh but I didn't want to," Mao whined mockingly. "If you had given up quietly and handed C.C. over, none of this would have happened."

"You…" but Lelouch didn't get to finish.

"Your own selfishness caused all this, you know." Mao's words cut into Lelouch's heart like knives. "Nunnally's your precious little sister and you would do anything to keep her from harm, but you put her in danger by pursuing your own happiness…"

At that moment, Suzaku stepped forward and took Lelouch's phone from his stunned hands. Lelouch was wide-eyed with shock from Mao's words. Suzaku pressed the end-call button and turned off the phone. He turned to his best friend, "Lelouch."

"It's my fault…" Lelouch muttered.

"Lelouch…' C.C. looked concerned; one of the rare few times that she showed her emotions.

Lelouch would have probably lost it but Suzaku pre-empted him. Before Lelouch start yelling and berating himself, Suzaku punched Lelouch in the face. Everyone except Euphie gasped, who just cringed, as Lelouch fell to the ground in a heap. Before Lelouch could look up, Suzaku grabbed him by the collar and yanked him up. "Why are you being like this? Why are you letting Mao's words get to you? You know perfectly well he's just provoking you, so why are you falling for it? What happened to my best friend who can think his way out of any situation? Do you think you're helping Nunnally by blaming yourself? You remember when we were children, when we used to do all sorts of crazy things, how you came up with the plans and I put them into action? What do you need me to do Lelouch?" Suzaku finished and let go of Lelouch's collar. Lelouch wasn't looking at him, or at anyone else for that matter.

"Thank you Suzaku," Lelouch muttered.

00000

A moment later, everyone sat around a stone table in the courtyard, staring at Lelouch. He had his elbows propped up on the table and rested his chin on his crossed fingers. His eyes were closed. He was deep in thought, it was his thinking pose. Lelouch breathed out and began. "Mao is watching us somewhere but he wasn't in the surveillance room, so that means he's at a location with a bird's eye view of the campus. The only places I can think of are the clock tower and the main building's roof, being the tallest structures here. He hid Nunnally somewhere inconspicuous and probably somewhere no one would think to look." He looked at his friends around him and they all looked back at him with determined eyes. "I know I said finding Nunnally is our most important objective but I think we should find Mao."

No one said anything and there really wasn't much someone could say in this situation. Lelouch continued. "Suzaku, I want you to go to the clock tower and see if Mao is there. Kallen, you'll check the main building's roof. When you find him, stay hidden and don't confront him. Send me a message and wait for further instructions." Suzaku had returned his phone. After nodding to Suzaku and Kallen, he turned to Milly. "I need the blueprints to the school that shows every single room and hidden spaces, Milly. Do you think you can get it?"

"Of course," Milly said proudly.

"Everyone else, keep looking so Mao won't know what we're planning." Lelouch finished, turning to everyone else. He then thought of something, "C.C., you will stick with me."

"Don't order me around," C.C. said but Lelouch knew she'll listen.

"We're only listening to you for Nunnally's sake," Alice said to him, as if clearing a point.

Once everyone knew their individual tasks, they all set out. Suzaku and Kallen headed to their respective locations while Lelouch and C.C. followed Milly to find the academy's blueprints. Everyone else split up.

As Lelouch walked through the hallways with C.C. and Milly, he looked out at the window at the bright sun. It was late November so despite the sunlight, it was still pretty chilly. The sunlight made nice shadows that splayed into the hallways. Shadows…Lelouch suddenly stopped walking and stood in front of a large window.

"Is something wrong?" Milly asked. The girls had stopped too.

Lelouch looked at the shadows that played out in the hallway. It hasn't been more than an hour since he left the surveillance room so the locations of the shadows couldn't have changed that much. The shadows displayed on the monitors slanted to the right, but the shadows here slanted to the left! Lelouch looked around and found the security camera on the ceiling, looking down at him, a red light flashing under the lens. The lighting in the surveillance room was dim so he didn't noticed upon first inspection, but the monitors were showing images from a different time of day. He ran off down the hall towards the surveillance room, the two confused girls jogging behind him.

He arrived and opened the door without knocking. The operators looked up in surprise from their game of Go to see the young man they dealt with before and their boss's daughter, along with a beautiful young woman who they didn't recognize; Milly was beautiful too of course. Lelouch entered without invitation followed by the girls and looked at the monitors. He was right.

"What is it?" C.C. asked.

"Mao hacked into the security cameras and made them play in a loop," Lelouch explained. "But I wonder…" He shooed one of the operators off his chair and pulled it up to the control panel. The cameras positioned outside are all on entrances and exits, so those can be ignored. He hid Nunnally in one of the buildings but he needed to make sure he wasn't seen, so it has to be somewhere students are prohibited from entering."

"So…" Milly started, but Lelouch cut her off.

"Milly, can you go get the blueprints and bring it in here?" Lelouch asked.

"Sure," Milly looked surprised but she left anyways. The two operators looked to her for instructions and she just shrugged. "You two are on break," she said to them.

"What about me?" C.C. asked.

"What do you want to do?" Lelouch asked her.

C.C. took the empty chair left by the other operator.

Lelouch looked at the monitors again, the fact that the cameras placed in the clock tower and on the rooftop didn't record Suzaku or Kallen further proved his suspicions. If his hunch if right, Mao only hacked the system so it showed a looped playback but the cameras should have been still recording, assuming Mao did not rewire the cameras completely. If he can fix the damage Mao caused to the surveillance system, he should be able to retrieve the lost footage. He flexed his fingers and got to work.

00000

As Suzaku approached the top of the clock tower, he slowed down to quiet his footsteps. He needed to remain hidden so as not to surprise Mao if he was there. Suzaku could see the light that meant he was on the last staircase before reaching the top. Suzaku crouched so the waist-height wall that acted as a handrail on top could hide him. He peeked around the corner and sure enough, Mao was leaning forward out a window. It doesn't look he noticed Suzaku yet. Suzaku snuck back down a few stairs and sent a message to Lelouch.

00000

Back in the surveillance room, Lelouch was typing away on the laptop that was connected to the control panel. He wouldn't say he was a proficient hacker and programmer but he knew what to do if the situation calls for it. He was so absorbed in his work; he didn't notice his phone vibrating on the table.

"You have a message," C.C. said from his side, looked at the name on the display. "It's Suzaku."

"Read it to me," Lelouch said, still typing.

C.C. grabbed the phone off the table and opened it. She looked at the message for a moment and turned back to Lelouch, "Suzaku found Mao on the clock tower. He asks if he should push him down."

Lelouch had to stop and chuckle for a moment. The way C.C. said it, as if it didn't matter seemed really funny. "No it's fine, but I appreciate the thought." Lelouch said. "Tell him to watch and wait."

C.C. did as she was told and sent the message. When she was done, she placed the phone back on the table and turned again to look at Lelouch. "Why did you want me to stay with you?" She was curious.

"I asked if you wanted to go with Milly but you chose to stay," Lelouch said. He was back at it on the laptop and didn't look at her.

"I know, but before that, I'm sure you realized I could have gone after Mao."

"True, but I trust Suzaku and Kallen," Lelouch replied without missing a beat.

"Are you saying you don't trust me?"

"No, Mao was right."

C.C. looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"I am merely being selfish and want to keep you by my side."

C.C. studied Lelouch's face. He said it without emotion so she couldn't tell if he was teasing her or being serious. Maybe he was doing both. She was satisfied with his answer for now. Just then, Milly came back with a stack of rolled up poster-size polyester film tucked under her arm. Lelouch stopped what he was doing and shifted his attention to Milly.

"Your blueprint delivery has arrived!" Milly said cheerfully as she walked in.

"Thanks Milly," Lelouch said. Getting up, he pulled the table in the back to the center of the cramped room. "Alright, let's see them."

Milly laid out the sheets of blue material with measured lines drawn all over it on the table, stacking them on top of one another. Lelouch stood over the plans and looked them over. Each floor of each building had their own prints so he put aside all the plans that depicted the school from the first floor up. Now he was left with a detailed plan of the school's basement system, or multiple basement systems. Apparently, all the basements are connected by tunnels so you can go from one building to another through the underground. Lelouch deduced that Mao couldn't and wouldn't have hidden Nunnally in the larger connected basements since it would be difficult for him to seal all the exits. Instead, he turned his attention to the few isolated basement rooms that were scattered through the buildings. He looked through the drawers and found a notepad and pen, and wrote down the locations of all these rooms.

Lelouch returned to the laptop and continued trying to get the monitors to play what the cameras were recording. It wasn't as complicated as Lelouch thought, it took a little while because of he wasn't a professional programmer but he got through to the end. All the monitors flashed to static for a few seconds before displaying images of the different areas of the school again. Lelouch saw Suzaku on a staircase in the clock tower, hidden from Mao's view, and Kallen on the rooftop. He found everyone else at random locations around the campus.

Lelouch turned away from the laptop and to the control panel, checking the locations he wrote down earlier; he changed a few of the monitors to display the footage from those locations. Those places were empty right now but Lelouch started rewinding the footage, his eyes shifting from one monitor to the other. Milly and C.C. were watching the monitors as well.

Every time he saw someone on the monitor, Lelouch paused and played it at normal speeds, only to find it was just a technician or janitor. He was starting to get impatient, there should only be a few hours of footage he has to go through. He finally found what he was looking for. He stopped the rewinding and played the footage from one of the cameras. Mao had an unconscious Nunnally slung over his shoulder as he used a keycard to unlock an electric door. It was dark inside the door so Lelouch couldn't see what was happening but Mao came out less than a minute later, locked the door, and walked away.

Milly and C.C. saw it too but before they could say anything, Lelouch had already grabbed his phone. He sent a message to everyone except Suzaku, telling them where Nunnally was. He then sent a message to Suzaku to tell him to capture Mao and bring him to the student council meeting room. He would've called but he didn't want to give away Suzaku's location.

"Come on, let's go." Lelouch said to C.C. and Milly. They followed; after Milly gathered the blueprints again with C.C.'s help.

Mao had hidden Nunnally right under them, literally.

00000

Mao hummed a merry tune as he watched Lelouch's friends scramble around like mice. They'll never find her, he was thinking. Then he noticed something, they were all heading to one location, the main building. However, noticing them was the only thing he could do as someone came up behind him and pinned him against the ground with a knee. He turned his head to see the Japanese boy that always hung out with Lelouch.

"It's over Mao."

00000

Kallen felt her phone vibrate and took it out. It was Lelouch. After reading the message, she ran down the stairs to the first floor; she should be closest to Nunnally's location right now. Sure enough, she was the first one there. Kallen examined the door. She needed a cardkey to open this. Alice, Nemo, and Euphie arrived a minute later, all gasping for breath as they ran here as fast as they can.

"So Nunnally is in there?" Alice asked in between breaths.

"Yes, according to Lelouch," Kallen confirmed. 'But we need a cardkey to get in."

Alice pushed Kallen aside and started to bang on the door. "Nunnally, can you hear me?" There was no response so Alice continued to hit the door.

"Hey calm down," Kallen warned. "People are in class right now."

"Who cares!"

"Alice…calm yourself," Nemo said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Just then, they heard a voice from the other side of the door. "Alice?" It was Nunnally, but her voice sounded weak. "Where's onii-sama?"

"Lelouch is on his way," Kallen yelled.

"Nunnally, are you okay?" Euphie said, coming up to the door.

"Euphie nee-sama?"

"Nunnally!" All the girls turned around and saw Lelouch running as hard as he can towards them, Milly and C.C. jogging behind him. "Nunnally, are you okay?" Lelouch was also banging on the door.

"Onii-sama, it's you right?" Nunnally's voice perked up in hope at the sound of Lelouch's voice. "I'm sorry for causing everyone so much trouble; it should be class time right now, unless more time has passed than I thought. Then I'm sorry for making everyone stay to look for me."

"Idiot," Lelouch said. "Why are you apologizing?" Lelouch visibly sighed in relief. He then turned to others. "We need to open this door."

"We don't have the keycard," Kallen explained.

"Milly?" Lelouch turned to the president.

"Sorry, I don't have one either. It never occurred to me to keep one." Milly shrugged.

"Then we're breaking down this door," Lelouch declared.

"Um…" Lelouch turned at the timid sounding voice. It was Nina, with Rivalz and Shirley behind her. Apparently, they arrived without Lelouch's notice. "If it's a keycard, then I have one."

Everyone looked at her in surprise and she started to blush. "I stay after school a lot to help the chemistry teacher so she gave me a keycard so I can access the storage rooms."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Lelouch stood aside to let Nina forward.

"Right…right away," Nina stuttered and stepped forward. She reached into her pocket to take out her wallet and pull the keycard out. The lock beeped in affirmation when Nina slid her card down the slot and the lock clicked open. Nina took the liberty to pull open the heavy door.

00000

Nunnally heard yelling on the other side of the door and carefully crawled forward until she touched what she believed to be the first step to the stairs. She didn't know how long exactly she had been in there as she had no way of telling time. When the voice sounded again, Nunnally recognized it, it was Alice. Kallen and Nemo seem to be with her too.

When she heard Euphie then her brother's voices, she knew she was saved. When she realized how many people were worried about her, she began to feel bad for making them worry. There was some bickering for a few minutes until Nunnally heard the lock click open. As soon as the light flooded into the room, it was blocked by someone engulfing her in a hug. It was Lelouch.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Lelouch said. He sounded like he was crying but Nunnally knew better. Lelouch never actually cried, at least never in front of her.

Nunnally wrapped her arms around Lelouch's slender frame as well. She didn't know what to say so she just remained silent as they kneeled there. She felt another hug from behind and thought it was most likely Euphie. The others stood back to give the siblings some space.

C.C. smiled softly at the sight.

00000

Lelouch personally, though with great effort, carried Nunnally to the infirmary on his back, despite her protests. By the time they reached it, Lelouch was sweating like he just ran a mile in mid-summer weather; the nurse initially thought he was the patient. After handing him a clean towel and a bottle of water, the nurse turned her attention to Nunnally. When the nurse asked what happened, as she did not see any outward signs of injury on the young girl, they explained it to her as best as possible without giving away too much details. They still didn't know how to handle this after all.

As Lelouch wiped away the sweat from his hair, he felt his phone vibrate. Taking it out, he saw that it was Suzaku. He had taken Mao to the student council meeting room and restrained him. Lelouch looked towards Nunnally, he hated to leave her alone, especially now. Nunnally noticed her brother's stare and smiled reassuringly at him.

Lelouch got up and told the nurse that they'll be right back. He needed to deal with Mao. Alice and Nemo chose to stay behind with Nunnally, but after Nemo stopped Alice from trying to beat Mao to a pulp. Everyone else was waiting outside, including C.C. and they all followed Lelouch to the student council room.

When they arrived, they saw that Mao was tied to a chair with a long electrical cord with their backs to them. Suzaku had to be inventive about what to use as rope. Lelouch reached inside his school uniform and took out a small device and placed it on the long table.

"I won this little sadistic game of yours," Lelouch said as he approached Mao. Suzaku spun him around to face Lelouch.

"So what? Haven't you ever heard of 'lose a battle, win a war'?" Mao said spitefully.

"Believe what you will," Lelouch said and pulled a chair so he sat facing Mao. Everyone else took an empty chair as well, except Suzaku who stood over Mao like some prison guard. "Let's lay our cards out on the table then. You were the one who gave the 'information' to the school newspaper right?"

"Yeah, I can't believe it bothered you though." Mao laughed a little.

Kallen stood and stomped over. She was about to punch him in the face but Suzaku stopped her.

"Well if you didn't think it would, you wouldn't have done it." Lelouch reasoned.

As if noticing C.C. for the first time, Mao ignored Lelouch and his hateful expression turned to that of a wide-eyed admiring child. "C.C., did you see? I did it all for you!" Mao said happily, shaking in his chair, trying to get to the green haired girl. "I hacked into the school's security system and replaced the video feed with a loop, than I kidnap this loser's sister and hid her right under their nose. Aren't I smart?"

"Mao…" C.C. said sadly. She hadn't expected Mao to have become this demented.

"Well that was easier than I expected, I thought I had to talk the confession out of him." Lelouch stood and turned to everyone else. "Everyone heard that right?" they all nodded and Lelouch grabbed the device he placed on the table earlier. He turned to face Mao and pressed a button. Lelouch had recorded everything. "This will be enough to at least get you expelled, if not jailed. You'll lose your reason to be in Japan and will be forced to leave."

Mao didn't seem to have heard him His attention was still on C.C. and he was now spouting some nonsense about a house in Australia.

00000

Later that day, Lelouch walked home with C.C. The nurse had said Nunnally was perfectly fine, perhaps a little dehydrated but Lelouch wanted her to go to the hospital just in case. After some convincing from Nunnally and Euphie, Lelouch consented to letting Nunnally go home early and called Tamaki, their chauffeur. Euphie accompanied her.

They took Mao to campus security and call the principle over. Everything was explained and the rumors that plagued the student council were cleared. Mao had his scholarship revoked and expelled, and was handed over to the police. Lelouch's father will probably take legal action, whether for Nunnally's sake or for his own pride, so Mao's future doesn't look too good. He'll probably be forced to return to China and be formally punished there.

"Good job today," C.C. said nonchalantly.

"Is that the best praise you can offer me?" Lelouch joked.

"You just had more resources than Mao," C.C. said. "He's pretty intelligent, you know."

"It sounds like you're trying to defend your stalker."

C.C. was silent for a moment. "Mao became like this because of me, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Lelouch sighed. "Mao obviously had problems if he can't take separation and move on."

"Oh?" C.C. turned on Lelouch. "Are you saying that if I disappeared and never contacted you again, you'll just move on?"

Lelouch was about to answer when he realized this was a trap. There was no way to answer without getting a bad result.

C.C. smiled and laughed at Lelouch's pained expression. When his expression became that of an annoyed scowl, C.C. asked him, "Hey, who is more important, me or Nunnally?"

Lelouch sighed. If he had been asked this yesterday, he wouldn't have known how to answer. "You and Nunnally are two different people to me, and you're both important beyond all else."

C.C. smiled and took his hand. "Nice answer."

00000

Inside C.C.'s apartment, a letter lay on the coffee table. The window was opened so a slight breeze blew in and opened the letter. The letter was written in English, very beautiful flowing script at that, a strange sight in today's age of digital communication.

_**My dear daughter,**_

_**How are you doing? How's Japan treating you? Have you made any new friends? I know it was a bit sudden to send you away but things were getting out of hand as you're well aware of and I didn't want you to get involved.**_

_**I'm sending you this letter to tell you that things have calmed down. I'm going to Japan for your Christmas break so let's talk then.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Your Mother**_

_**P.S. have you been eating nothing but pizza without me there? I know you love the stuff but please watch your health.**_

00000

_A/N: Now we know what that letter says, if you guys still remember it. I didn't make much reference to it since its introduction._

_This was originally two chapters but I realized didn't have enough material for the two chapters I wanted so it's now one longer-than-usual chapter. And school is starting so I thought I'd give a long chapter since I don't know when I'll be able to update. I'm taking two English classes along with Japanese and a Science class, I took on the challenge. If ever become a college English professor or maybe even a high school English teacher, I might try to start a "Japanese Light Novel Studies" class or something that explores storytelling in light novels. I've been reading them a lot lately._

_This is the end of the Mao arc; the next chapter will wrap things up and start on the next and final arc._


	25. Chapter 25

_A/N: Ok, this is the complete version of chapter 25. I changed C.C.'s name and Joan's character slightly from the unedited version. This is just a short arc that I forgot I planned so it'll be over soon._

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass**

**Chapter 25**

The Mao affair was finally over. He was expelled and having lost his student visa, he was forced to return to China. Although he did not have to make a public apology like Lelouch wanted, the students' insatiable thirst for gossip was enough to spread the truth around. Once the student body found out that the article was completely fabricated, they reverted to talking about the upcoming election and the latest trends in fashion and music like all teenagers instead. As Lelouch expected, his father did take legal action, but since Mao was a Chinese citizen it was more difficult. Not to mention Lelouch's father was not a citizen of Japan, so expulsion and deportation was all that happened.

However, with Mao gone, Lelouch was unchallenged and nobody stepped up to challenge him either. The race was decided and everything was just a formality. The only real race was between Kallen and Suzaku, yet they don't seem be acting particularly competitive. Despite the fact that Lelouch is the only contender for the presidency, the debate or speech now was still required, which will now be more of a question and answer period along with a speech. The lower positions did not have to do such tedious work.

Milly took this chance to throw most if not all her responsibilities onto Lelouch, citing the need to train him for the position. She was already throwing most of her responsibilities onto him before this so Lelouch was not surprised. It seemed that everyone had forgotten during the chaos of the last few weeks but the annual Ashford Academy Christmas Ball was coming up, and with dam that was the Mao affair lowered, the flood waters of work hit them full force. It was already the last week of November so they had less than a month to plan the event which usually takes place on December 23rd. Lelouch was pretty confident about the speech he has to make next week so he wasn't worried about that.

Milly was now in full study mode for her college entrance exams. She made a deal with her parents; that she can stay in Japan if she can get accepted into a university with her own abilities. Her family stepped it up and said she has to be accepted into the University of Tokyo, a tall order but at least her family was willing to pay for her tuition. She may seem like your average spoiled heiress who only cares about having fun, but she's actually pretty intelligent so Lelouch was confident that she could do it. This just means that he has essentially taken on the role of president since Milly was studying most of the time. She dropped in on the meetings every now and then but she wouldn't stay long. At least with Lelouch in charge, things get done on time without rushing everything the day before.

It was during a meeting where the student council was sorting out their budget for the Christmas Ball that Milly visited again. She was smiling from ear to ear as she walked into the large room before kicking Lelouch out of the chair at the head of the table. Lelouch had taken the liberty to sit in the president's seat since he was the acting and future president. She sat down and spun the leather office chair around once before facing the others. It was never good when she smiled like that.

Lelouch suspected what she was about to do so he cut in before she could start. "Madam President, it's too late to add anything more to the event if we want to the budget to be finalized in time." Each time she visited them during their meetings; it was to add something new to the event, such as snow machines and carriage rides from the entrance to the ballroom.

"Oh don't be such a prude, Lelouch." Milly made a swatting motion as if Lelouch's comment was an annoying fly. "You're making me worried about the student council's future."

"How's your studying going, Madam President?" Shirley asked from across Lelouch.

"Perfectly, I'll pass that test with flying colors." Milly answered still smiling, before taking a look around. "Where's C.C.?"

"She said she had some things to take care of," Lelouch answered, ignoring her sudden change of subject. "She knows her job, so don't worry."

"To look good for you right?" Milly teased.

"Of course," Lelouch answered without missing a beat.

"It's not fun when you don't get flustered anymore," Milly sighed.

"So are you just sitting in today?" Lelouch asked, ignoring that comment.

"Nope, I'm here to make a suggestion."

"I already said it's too late."

"It's not going to cost any money."

Lelouch thought about it for a moment. "Shoot."

"You must bring a date with you to the ball!" Milly said gleefully.

"Rejected," Lelouch promptly responded.

"Why?" Milly whined.

"It would be unfair to those who weren't able to find a date or may want to go alone," Lelouch stated simply. "The point of the ball is to make sure everyone has fun right?"

"I agree with Lelouch," Suzaku spoke up.

"That's just unnecessary," Kallen added as well.

"You three should be the least worried about it," Milly said to them.

Lelouch sensed where this conversation was going so he said, "it's always a possibility the singles will meet someone at the ball right?"

"That's true…" Milly said thoughtfully. "Then everyone must have a partner by the end of the night!"

"I'll think about it," Lelouch said.

"Really?" Milly said surprisingly before smiling, "Then I'll leave it to you. It's about time I get back to studying." Milly sauntered off out of the room after that.

"Are you serious about that?" Rivalz asked.

"Not really, if I didn't appease her she would never let it go until she had her way." Lelouch answered. "There is no realistic method to enforce it anyways."

"I think it sounded like a good idea," Rivalz mumbled under his breath but Lelouch had heard him.

Knowing what he meant, Lelouch said "She'll probably think of some excuse to exempt herself anyways."

00000

C.C. walked into the large reception area of Haneda Airport, where crowds of people bustled about. Although they were mostly men and women in business suits rushing to meet a client or foreigners coming to Japan for an early start on their winter vacation. It was one of these foreigners that C.C. was looking for as she scanned the crowds. She was told that the plane would arrive at 6 p.m. so she rushed over after school since the train ride was rather long, but the person she was looking for was nowhere to be seen. It was 6:10 p.m. currently and as C.C. thought about it, that person was probably going through customs and getting her luggage right now.

C.C. looked up at the flight schedule and the flight was on schedule and had already landed. She was still in her school uniform as she didn't have time to change; she even had her bag with her. C.C. stood there, wondering how out of place she looked, and what that person would do when they meet. She started to adjust and straighten her uniform as she waited. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, possibly to kill time? C.C. waited for half an hour before she heard a voice behind her as she examined the sign telling people where restrooms, restaurants, and other facilities around the airport were.

"Ah Catherine, is that you?" a female voice said in English with a British accent.

C.C. turned around to face the woman that was slightly taller than her. Like her, this woman also had bright neon green hair but it was cut short and styled.

"The uniform doesn't look like the ones I see in magazines," the woman was pouting for some reason. "What a pity."

C.C. looked down at the said uniform and just shrugged.

"Why are you being so cold after so long?" the woman asked looking worried, "still mad about being sent away?"

"No," C.C. said, looking away, "nice to see you again, mom."

Her mom smiled like a child as she hugged C.C.

00000

As the Christmas Ball fast approaches, the student council was loaded with more work than usual. Though unlike with Milly's leadership, they weren't as rushed with Lelouch in command. Before the Christmas Ball however, is the election for the student council president to legitimize Lelouch's position. So Lelouch now has three things to deal with, the preparation for the Ball, the election, and his classes. Even though he and C.C. are dating, she hasn't been around much and has been acting pretty strange recently. She would head straight home after school without as much as a word. When Lelouch asked her what she's been up to, she merely shrugged Lelouch off and warned him not to be so clingy. Their relationship had just begun and Lelouch feels as if they've already hit a rut. When he talked to Suzaku about his problems with C.C., Suzaku just reassured him and told him to have faith in her. A true sign that a relationship will never work out is when the couple doesn't experiences any problems, in other words, it's too perfect. Although Suzaku did say that they seemed to have completely skipped the honeymoon phase of the relationship.

So technically Lelouch has four things to deal with but he has been trying to put his issue with C.C. in the back of his mind. He'll get to the bottom of it once the elections and the preparations for the Ball is finished. Luckily, the student council won't have to chaperone during the Ball as that is the duty of the teachers.

Since the speech was the immediate worry, Lelouch decided to focus most of his attention on the election for now. It doesn't matter as he didn't have an opponent but he still has to make an effort or no one would think he was capable of taking on the job, no matter how popular he was.

The day before the speech, Lelouch was getting ready to go to the student council to do what needed to be done at the moment for the Christmas Ball. He was just going to check in on the others and planned to leave Suzaku and Kallen in charge. C.C. was packing up her bag as quickly as possible as well.

"Rushing to get home today as well?" Lelouch asked, not looking at her. "Are you forgetting you're part of the student council?"

"You're the president of the chess club as well and I don't see you going to their meetings recently," C.C. countered.

That stopped Lelouch in his tracks but he wasn't going to give in. "Touché, but they know I've been busy and Gino is more than enough to keep them entertained."

"Well I've been pretty busy myself recently and I think you have sufficient help in the student council already," C.C. said. "Besides, I finished everything you assigned me right?"

"Busy with what, if I may so ask?" Lelouch was starting to get annoyed.

C.C. may have sensed this so she said, "Are you busy this weekend?"

Caught off guard by the sudden change of subject, Lelouch just stuttered. "We, well I, the speech and election are this Friday so I have some time to relax this weekend I guess. Why?"

"Want to go get lunch?" C.C. asked.

"Sure…" Lelouch said uncertainly.

"I'll text you the details later," C.C. said and turned to leave. As she left, she mumbled, "I guess letting you know this much won't ruin anything."

"What?" Lelouch had heard her.

"Nothing," she said and left Lelouch staring after her.

00000

On the day of the speech, all the students filed into the auditorium as instructed. It was originally supposed to be a debate but since Lelouch was the only candidate, they decided to make an exception this time.

Truthfully, Lelouch didn't want to do the speech or debate. When Milly stood up at that podium during her years in power, she usually did something crazy and silly to lighten the mood or make it fun. The teachers let it go every time since she was the Chairman's granddaughter but Lelouch wouldn't get that privilege. So unbeknownst to Lelouch, Milly planned a little something with the other student council members and others after Lelouch finished his speech.

As scheduled, the principal started the event with an explanation of the tradition of Ashford Academy's student council. It was all very repetitive since the students heard most of this already. Then Lelouch's homeroom teacher, Villeta Nu gave a speech about how great a student Lelouch was as expected of her. She didn't look like she was being completely honest though.

Finally, it was Lelouch's turn. He was aware of the student's growing apathy. He could already see a few people nodding off. Lelouch spotted Nunnally and Euphie in the crowd and they seemed like the only people who looked excited. The faculty speeches were always a drag which was why Milly did what she did to energize the students when she had to do this. He couldn't find Milly or the other student council members however, which made him suspicious. Milly was up to something. There was nothing he can do now though, so he went through with the speech. He kept it as short as possible but he can't make it too short. He went through the usual about improving the quality of school life, higher budgets for clubs, and all that jazz.

When he was done, he finished with the obligatory "thank you for your support" and straightened his note cards. Just then the side door to the auditorium was thrown open and several strangely clad figures walked in. By strangely clad, they were in cat suits. He recognized the person leading the others as Milly who was wearing an especially revealing cat suit. The others seemed to be the student council members plus Gino and Anya. Everyone watched them as they walked up on stage and stood behind Lelouch. As opposed to Milly, Kallen's costume covered everything, including her face. Lelouch only realized it was her through deduction.

"All Hail Lelouch!" Milly suddenly shouted.

"All Hail Lelouch!" Gino shouted enthusiastically following her. The others started as well though Nina was blushing the entire time and Lelouch couldn't tell if Kallen was really saying anything. Anya just seemed to be raising her fist.

C.C. seemed to be just following along but she was still smiling.

A group of students from the audience started shouting that phrase as well. Lelouch recognized it as the chess club. They weren't dressed up at least, though Lelouch suspected Milly went to them anyways. Suddenly, confetti started to rain on everyone. When did Milly have time to do all this? Soon, the entire auditorium was filled with shouts of "All Hail Lelouch!" and the person being cheered on by this strange phrase just stood in shock and embarrassment.

The teachers snapped out of their surprise and started the attempt to calm things down. Lelouch walked off stage and the student council members plus Gino and Anya followed him. They could still hear the cheers after turning a corner in the hallway. When they returned to the student council room, Lelouch turned on Milly.

"Why did you do that?" Lelouch said, annoyed.

"Why are you so angry?" Milly walked past him and sat in the chair at the head of the table. "You wouldn't have done anything to make your speech fun, knowing what a serious person you are."

"But why did you have to do that?"

"Well, we had some cat costumes lying around."

"Oh come on, everyone loved it." Suzaku said.

"Even you?" Lelouch turned towards his best friend, before turning to Gino and Anya. "Why are you two part of it?"

"Milly came to the chess club with this idea and it sounded fun," Gino said with a laugh. "Though I couldn't convince the other members to dress up, I got them to cheer you on from the crowd."

"I wanted to get Nunnally and Euphie to do it too but I didn't want to embarrass them," Milly added.

"But it was okay to embarrass me?" Lelouch asked her. He then turned to Kallen, "why you too?"

"The idea of embarrassing you sounded good," Kallen said taking off the cat head hood of the suit.

"She almost had to wear the president's costume," Rivalz teased.

Lelouch could only face-palm himself.

"Its fine isn't it?" C.C. asked, walking up to him. "Now everyone won't think of you as an all-business-no-play type of president."

"So did you get it all on camera?" Gino nudged Anya.

"Recorded…" Anya replied. "I will upload it as planned."

"No, you won't!" Lelouch yelled.

Voting took place that very day during lunch so it was an eventful day for all. The results won't be released until Monday though. Lelouch stayed in the student council room late to avoid encountering any other students as they've taken the habit of saying "All Hail Lelouch" whenever they see him.

Later that night, he received a text message from C.C. telling him to meet her at a certain café by Harajuku Station. Lelouch thought that was a little strange, they've never gone to Harajuku before as C.C. wasn't particularly into fashion.

00000

As per C.C.'s instruction, Lelouch headed to Harajuku the next day. The weather was getting colder as December rolled on so Lelouch was bundled up in a large windbreaker. The disadvantage of being skinny was that you're more susceptible to the cold than most people.

When he arrived at Harajuku Station, he looked around to look for the familiar wave of neon green hair. It didn't matter since the fashion sense of those gathered here were more eccentric than most of Japan so a lot of people wore wigs. He found the café that C.C. mentioned in her text but she wasn't outside so he went in. Like outside, there were a lot of eccentrically dressed people here as well. Milly would fit in quite well here. He looked around and saw someone waving at him. It was C.C. but she seemed different. She was far too cheerful. Did she get a haircut? She was also wearing lipstick which Lelouch never seen her wear except on special occasions. Lelouch walked toward her and thought of several possibilities.

"You must be Lelouch," Lelouch was confused now. This wasn't C.C.; her voice was different, too high pitched. Her Japanese was also heavily accented.

"Um…" Lelouch could only utter.

"Oh, C.C. hasn't told you about me?" the woman said. "Why?" she directed this at the seat in front of her.

Lelouch looked down and saw C.C. sitting there. So who was the short haired woman?

"Lelouch," C.C. started, "This is my mother…"

"Nice to meet you!" the woman C.C. claimed to be her mother said. "You can call me Joan."

Lelouch could only think about how different mother and daughter were. "Nice to meet you…" he said a bit awkwardly. "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge." C.C. didn't tell him he was meeting her mother, otherwise he would've mentally prepared himself better. In fact, this was a bit sudden wasn't it?

"Lamperouge…" Joan started muttering the name, as she stared at Lelouch intently. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Really now?" Lelouch wasn't particularly surprised. Anyone who knew about wine would have probably heard the name. He pretended not to know.

"I'm sure I'll think of it later," Joan decided and raised her hand to flag down the waiter. "Order something, my treat."

"Just coffee, thanks." Lelouch said humbly.

"So Lelouch, you've been living in Japan for quite some time right?" Joan asked after the waiter left.

"Yes, since I was ten years old." Lelouch answered calmly. When you lived as the son of a rich businessman who attends many social functions, one has to learn to change faces rapidly to deal with different people. "My father wanted to try and expand his wine business here."

"Oh, so you must be knowledgeable about wines. You're still underage though right?"

"I guess so, but picking up tidbits of knowledge about wine then and there is inevitable in my family," Lelouch laughed a little there. "As for drinking, it's only on the rare occasions."

Joan stared at Lelouch, "so do you plan on taking over for your father?"

Lelouch knew what was going on. She was testing him, to see whether he was good enough for her daughter. Understandable, she was C.C.'s mother after all. However, C.C. hasn't said a thing since introducing them. Lelouch had to phrase his words carefully, "as of now, I have no intention of taking over the family business." C.C. gave him a sharp nudge at that moment so Lelouch quickly added, "I want to do something to change the world."

"You want to be a politician?" Joan actually looked surprised.

Lelouch had to laugh. "I don't think I have what it takes to be a politician, but it's not completely out of the question."

"You're quite modest despite coming from a rich family," Joan said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "You pass!"

"Pass?" Lelouch feigned ignorance.

"You are dating my daughter after all so I just wanted to know what kind of person you are."

Lelouch decided to change the subject of the conversation, "so what do you do, Joan?"

Joan looked at Lelouch with wide eyes, "you mean C.C. hasn't told you?"

"He never asked," C.C. said for the first time since the start of the conversation.

"Hm…well, I'm a fashion designer," Joan answered.

"You were wondering why I've been going home right after school, right?" C.C. asked.

"Yup, sorry for hogging your girlfriend every day," Joan said teasingly.

"Ah no, I should be sorry." Lelouch was taken aback. He felt bad now for getting mad at C.C. So she had been showing her mother around, she could have told him. "Why didn't you tell me your mother was visiting then?" he decided ask.

"You never asked." She repeated.

Lelouch twitched. How was he supposed to know?

"C.C. told me about the Christmas Ball at school and how you're in charge of organizing it," Joan suddenly said. "So I decided to do a little something."

"A little something?" Lelouch asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it; just don't be surprised when you see C.C. on the day of the Ball." Joan added a wink at the end of her sentence.

Mom!" C.C. suddenly said like a teenager being embarrassed by her parents.

"I see," Lelouch said, after realizing what's going on.

"Oops…guess I ruined the surprise," Joan said with a small laugh.

"That's why most of your designs get stolen," C.C. sighed. "You don't know when to keep quiet."

"I didn't say anything about the dress's design this time," Joan said like a child.

"So you really are designing a dress for C.C." Lelouch commented.

"Wait, you didn't deduce it from what we said?" C.C. turned to Lelouch.

"I just wanted to make sure," Lelouch said slyly. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Jerk…"

Lelouch laughed and turned back to the mother, "you didn't come all the way to Japan just to do this did you?"

"No, I found out after I arrived when I saw a flyer she brought back home." Joan said. "So I just had to design her dress. I've dreamed of designing her high school dance dresses since she was a little girl. I was a little worry though since I had heard high schools in Japan don't hold dances when I sent her here."

"As you can tell, she loves her work." C.C. said to Lelouch. "To the point of letting those who copy her work go free."

"Well, if other people are copying your mother's work than that only means that she's really talented isn't it?" Lelouch meant this as a subtle compliment to her mother.

"Oh is that how it is?" Joan said. "Then I should let more people copy to showcase my talent…"

No…" Lelouch said, shocked at how she interpreted that statement. "That's not what I meant…"

After lunch, Lelouch accompanied the mother-daughter pair around Harajuku for a few hours. As a fashion designer, Joan seemed to have especially enjoyed the place. Lelouch was curious about the dress she was designing and making for her daughter but knew that he wouldn't get any more information out of them now that they were wise to his knowledge. He doesn't mind waiting a bit though.

The Christmas Ball was close at hand and everything was going as planned. After the Ball, it would be winter vacation so that was something to look forward to after all this work. He had forgot to ask Joan why she suddenly came to Japan but just assumed that she wanted to spend Christmas with her daughter. If so, where was her father? As he thought about this, he began wondering what his family was going to do, and whether Schneizel will be coming back.

_A/N: After re-watching Stage 11, I think C.C.'s name is Catherine from lip-reading Lelouch when he said it, but that's just me. So I know I used "Cera" in the incomplete version but I changed it to "Catherine" with this new information. I like the name "Cera" though. Or maybe that's just my weird naming sense._

_Someone asked if I was a guy or girl in a review. I can't reply directly to that person since it wasn't a registered name, so I'll answer here. I'm a guy, yes._


End file.
